Naruko: Revival of the Uzumaki CLan
by Fedora-Will
Summary: Naruko's parents died when she was born and the girl had to be raised by Jiraiya, or more accurately Kurama. This will be a Naruko/Hinata story filled with some fluff and some seriousness. Rated M for later violence. A lot of things will be different from canon. OCs and characters from other series will make an appearance. Please review and I hope you enjoy.
1. The Birth Story

**A/N: Hello everyone. I just wanted to make a few things clear at the start of this so there is no confusion later on. First off this is a Naruko fic, which means that out beloved blond is a woman, and before anyone gives me hassle about gender change just let me say that the way this story is written Naruko is a girl since birth. Also this is a Naruko/Hinata fic, though this will take time as I believe that 13 is too young an age for a relationship, though crushes are fine. All summon creatures are demons from the demon realm. The Biju are demons as well. There will also be a few OCs that appear later on in the fic. That being said I hope you will enjoy the first chapter of Naruko: Revival of the Uzumaki Clan!**

**Declaimer: I do not own Naruto the series. I do however own all my OCs so please do not use them.**

Text examples:

"**Hello." **Biju or jinchuriki using biju's powers speaking

'Hi.' Person thinking

'_Hi there.'_ Person speaking through mental link

'**Howdy.' **Biju speaking through mental link

Chapter 1: The Birth Story

'_Kurama?'_

'**Yes Kit?'**

'_Can you tell me the story about when I was born again?'_

'**Of course little one. It happened four years ago in a little room outside of Konoha.'**

- 4 Years Ago -

It was late at night and cries of pain could be heard coming from a little room that was hidden away from prying eyes.

"It's going to be alright honey. You can do this. No pain no gain, right?" asked a blond man with a pained smile on his face. His pained look was because his hand was currently being crushed by the woman in front of him.

"What the Hell did you just say Minato?" The fiery red head that was lying down on the table gave Minato a death glare that would send even the most seasoned ninja running. Minato became very pale as he realized what he just said.

"Nothing Kushina, just something stupid." Minato replied weakly, hoping to avoid the wrath of his wife when this whole thing was over. He truly loved his wife, but at times she could be the single most frightening being in existence, and considering that fact that Minato was the Fourth Hokage meant something.

"Damn right it was stupid! How about we trade places and you deliver our baby? Then maybe you won't say anything stupid anymore." Kushina was in a lot of pain and she was venting it out on the only person she knew who could take it. Minato had the poor fortune of being said person. The two were away from the rest of the village when Kushina was giving birth because of the tenant that she had sealed inside her. Despite Kushina's reassurances to the council they still deemed it necessary for her to give birth in a secluded location away from the general populace, with a full detail of ANBU of course.

'**Kushina, are you doing alright?'** said a low almost animal like voice.

'_Yes Kurama. It hurts a lot but I know that this little one will be worth all the effort.' _Kushina smiled at the concern her tenant was showing her. He really was a good friend.

'**You can say that even knowing what your child might be?'** He was still surprised how easily Kushina and Minato had accepted the news that it was possible their child might be born part demon. Kurama had been sealed inside Kushina for many years, which included the duration of her pregnancy, so the child was exposed to demonic chakra since its conception. Kurama was worried that this could very well lead to the child being born a half-demon.

'_I know what you're thinking, so stop it. You aren't corrupting my child or anything of the sort. You have been my friend for years Kurama. As far as I'm concerned, if my little one does end up being half-demon it just gives her more of a reason to connect to her Uncle Kurama, and that would be a gift.' _Kushina's statement almost had the Kyubi in tears. She was a true friend to him and treated him far better than any of his other hosts. She was the light that brought him out of his darkness.

"So what are you two talking about?" Minato asked with a lopsided grin on his face. His wife had gone quite for a while and almost seemed calm despite the pain she was obviously going through. That meant only one thing, she was talking to Kurama.

"Oh you know, same old worrying on the part of fuzzy butt." Kushina smiled as she heard the growl come from Kurama through her link with him.

"Good old Kurama, always the worrywart." Minato said with a grin of his own, only for his face to be suddenly contorted in pain as his wife grad his hand when another wave of labor pains hit.

'**Serves him right for calling me a worrywart.' **Kurama relayed through the link.

"Both of you shut up! I think the baby is coming!" The red headed woman let out a scream as an intense pain gripped her entire body. When the two doctors that were standing off to the side heard this they rushed over and began to work.

One of the doctors looked up at Kushina. "Kushina, I want you to push when I tell you to, okay?" Kushina could only nod. "Okay, on the count of three push. One. Two. Three. Push!" Kushina pushed with all her might and after a few minutes of intense pain and heavy breathing she let out a sigh of relief and heard her baby cry for the first time.

"It's a girl! A beautiful baby girl!" the blond husband, now father, exclaimed excitedly as one of the doctors passed him the small girl. Minato looked fondly at his child and turned to hand her off to Kushina. The new mother took her daughter into her arms and could not help the smile that graced her face. Her little girl had bright red hair that showed she was her mother's daughter and brilliant blue eyes like her father. She also had whisker marks on her cheeks and a pair of fox ears on top of her head. The ears were as red as the rest of her hair, but had little white tips at the ends.

"She's perfect." said the new mother with a warm and caring expression.

"I guess Kurama was kind of right. She is definitely part demon, though maybe an eighth demon is more accurate than half." Kushina was inclined to agree with her husband. Besides the ears and whisker marks the girl seemed perfectly normal.

'**He's wrong. She is most certainly half demon at the least, maybe even more. It just doesn't seem that way because none of her tails have grown in yet.'** Kurama had taken a serious tone as he studied the girl's chakra network. She had all the showing of being able to grow multiple tails, nine to be exact. Kurama could not help but be impressed. **'She'll be as powerful as I am someday.'**

Kushina was about to reply when the door suddenly burst opened and in walked a man in mask. Before Minato could react the man disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the room. Both the doctors fell on the floor dead and somehow he had managed to take the girl away from her mother. The man was wearing a mask with only one eye hole and spikey black hair that went down to the small of his back. The rest of his features were covered by the mask the trench coat he wore.

"Don't move." The strange man said as he brought a kunai to the baby's throat. Minato froze in place, already preparing a plan to get his wife and child to safety. He had no idea who this person was, but they were extremely fast and meant business. That is when he noticed the eye hole in the mask. It was a Sharingan! Which mean that this man was an Uchiha. Minato began to run through all the strategies he knew for how to counter a Sharingan user. While all this was running through is head Kushina went into an internal panic at the sight of her child being held hostage. And that is when she lost all focus she had on trying to maintain the seal. There was a sudden rush of chakra that burst forth from the seal on Kushina's stomach as all eyes turned to her.

"Excellent." The masked man's voice sounded almost like he was smiling as he saw the demonic chakra come pouring out of the seal. He decided to act. He threw the kunai that he was holding at the wall to his left, the explosive tag attached to it going off as it made contact and taking out the wall. The masked man then tossed the child out the hole. Minato and Kushina gasped as they saw their child begin to fall. Minato reacted immediately by using his Flying Thunder God technique to teleport to his daughter. In that split second that all of his focus turned to his daughter the masked man appeared next to Kushina and preformed a rapid series of hand signs and then slammed his palm down on Kushina's stomach.

Kushina let out a gasp as she felt the seal on her stomach shatter under the force of chakra that was being poured into her. The air grew dense from the amount of demonic chakra that was being released as Kurama was forced out of his host and into the mortal world once again. He aimed for the hole in the wall to avoid damaging the structure any more than it already had been. Once outside he turned and faced the masked man.

"Got you." Kurama locked eyes with the masked man only to realize his mistake. He was staring into the depths of a fully activated Mangekyō Sharingan. Kurama could already feel his consciousness fading away as the Mangekyō Sharingan user forced his will upon the fox demon.

"Sit." Minato was in shock when he saw Kurama follow the man's order and as he watched the fox sit down. Someone having enough power to control the Kyubi was simply unheard of, at least in this day and age. In the past there was one person you could boast at having that much power, Madara Uchiha, but he had died years ago at the Valley of the End. Minato heard a small cry that brought him out of his thoughts and looked down at this little girl curled up in his arms. When he looked up again Kurama was gone.

"What the hell?" said Minato as he looked around. He could still feel Kurama's chakra, but could not see the Kyubi anywhere. It was at that moment that Minato caught sight of the masked man just as he shunshined away. Minato's eyes went wide and then he got a determined look on his face. He ran back into the building to make sure Kushina was alright before he went after the mysterious man. He arrived to find his wife barely conscious and breathing heavily.

"Minato?" asked Kushina with a weak voice. She felt horribly drained, almost like running a marathon for a week. She had passed out for a moment after the man had forced his chakra into her body. She could tell that Kurama was not sealed inside her anymore and she was worried about her friend, but most of all she was worried about her daughter.

"I'm here love. And I have our little girl too." Minato had a smile on his face in the hopes that it would help to calm down Kushina. He leaned over her and placed their new-born down on the bed next to her mother. He could see a small smile appear on her face as she reached out and began to rub her daughter's back.

"She's so quite. Is that normal?" Kushina did not seem to be talking to Minato, more to herself than anything. She shook head a little in an attempt to focus. "Minato. You have to go after him. I think he is after Kurama."

Minato only nodded his head as he leaned over and kissed both of his girls on the forehead before taking off after the Sharingan user.

-Hokage's Office-

Hiruzen was sitting behind his old desk as he filled out paper work. He had volunteered to help out Minato so the man could be there for the birth of his child. The thought of Minato being a father brought a smile to Hiruzen's face as he shook his head in disbelief. It seemed like only yesterday that the man was still a genin just out of the academy.

Hiruzen felt a surge of demonic chakra spread through the air and wondered if Kushina has just gone into labor. He was not too concerned because Minato was right there with her along with the detail of ANBU meant to protect the two. So he quietly went back to the paper work and groaned in frustration wishing that there was a better way to do all of this work faster. He was just about to start on another mission form when the room shook for a moment and he felt the full force of Kurama's chakra being released, even though he was miles away. Something was wrong.

-A few miles outside of Konoha-

Minato was chasing down the masked man as the two were running through the forest that surrounded Konoha. There had been a few instances where Minato had caught up to the man and they fought briefly. Each time the Sharingan user managed to avoid Minato's attacks and then counter with a Fire Ball jutsu, forcing Minato to back off and lose ground. It didn't take long for Minato to realize that the man was heading for Konoha, so Minato decided to beat the man there by using his Flying Thunder God technique.

-Konoha-

Minato appeared in his and Kushina's bedroom, ran to his closet to grab his haori, and headed towards the door. Once he made it outside on the street he shunshined to the Hokage's Office.

"Hiruzen!" Minato shouted as he came in through the window. The sudden arrival of the Fourth Hokage caused Hiruzen to scatter most of the paper work he had completed. He let out a groan in frustration.

"What is it Minato?" Hiruzen turned to his successor and instantly let go of his frustration upon seeing the serious look on Minato's face.

"An Uchiha is on the way to the village with Kurama under his control! Most likely he is planning to attack! I'll tell you the details later, but right now I need you to get all the civilians to safety. Have the genin and lower level chunin escort them to the safe houses. I want everyone else who is fit for battle to prepare for when they get here. Try to get Jiraiya to sober up and start planning out a seal for Kurama if we can't get him to snap out of it. Also, get someone over to the hospital and tell them to get ready to take care of Kushina and our child, let they know that she will be taking care of a half-demon. I'm going to get them now." As Minato finished he disappear with his Flying Thunder God Technique.

Hiruzen was frozen for a moment as he processed everything that he was just told. He took a breath and went straight to work preparing everything that Minato had told him to do.

-Outside the Hidden Location-

Minato appeared out of thin air in front his wife who had managed to make it almost a mile away from the hidden room with her daughter in her arms.

"Kushina. You shouldn't be up yet. You need to rest. Not only did you give birth today, but you also had Kurama ripped out of you." Minato said with a worried look on his face.

"I know Minato, but I couldn't just sit there and do nothing while you went off after that man. You know that I can't sit still for very long. Besides, I'm worried about Kurama and our little girl here. Kurama might still be aware of what he is doing right now and he is going to hate himself if he remembers any of this after it's all over. And our daughter has barely made a sound since you left. I almost scared myself to death thinking that she was dead, but then I realized that she was breathing." Kushina explained as she let a halfhearted laugh escape her lips.

"Alright, I definitely need to get the two of you out of here." He took hold of his wife and daughter and disappeared with them.

-Konoha-

Minato and Kushina exit there home and begin to head to the hospital so that they can have their child looked at. They were both worried since the small girl was not making any kind of noise despite all that had happened so far that night. They were half way to the hospital when they heard a large explosion. They looked towards the direction of the blast and saw Kurama in the center of the smoke as it cleared. The Kyibi let out a terrifying roar and began to attack the village, destroying buildings all around him.

"We have to stop him. All of those people are dying. He'll never stop hating himself for this. It took me years to get him over his anger and to come out of his shell. I don't even want to think about what might happen to him after this." Kushina hung her head low to avoid looking at her longtime friend.

"It's going to be okay. I already told Hiruzen about the possibility of attack so the civilians should already be evacuated. And Jiraiya should be working on a seal for Kurama if we can't get him to stop." Minato looked at Kurama as several Ninja tried to lead him away from the village with the use of kunai and explosive tags. It was not working.

"Come on. I need to get you two to the hospital quick and then go look after Kurama." Minato picked up his wife bridal style and started jumping from rooftop to rooftop. They were about half way to the hospital when something landed in front of them and began to attack. It was the masked man from before. Minato jumps backwards and placed his wife on the roof before he went back to fighting off his attacker. Minato draws his signature kunai as the man took out a tanto.

Minato charged at his opponent and the two crossed blades. Minato was pushed back and threw a kunai at the man. The masked man ducked underneath it preparing to attack again only to look up and find Minato gone. Minato had appeared above him holding on to his kunai with a Rasengan in his right hand. Minato drove the Rasengan down towards the man below him only to be shocked as it appeared to pass right through him and make contact with the roof below.

'How did he do that? Is it a space time jutsu? If it is, why didn't he use it sooner?' Minato recovered and was facing the Sharingan user once again.

"I didn't use it before because I didn't think I'd need to. Clearly I underestimated you." Minato paused as he heard the man's response.

'How did he know what I was thinking?' Minato refocused when he heard the man let out a little laugh.

"Because it's written all over you face. Now shall we continue?" The man brought his tanto to the ready and leapt at Minato. The two fought for a short while and Minato began to catch on to how the Sharingan user's jutsu worked. He just had to time his attacks right and strike at the same moment the man did.

"This is taking too long." As the man said this Kuram's claw came out of nowhere and struck at Minato. The blond Hokage managed to avoid the attack by jumping to his left. Unfortunately he didn't realize that he left his back open to the black haired man. Minato feels a sharp pain in his chest and looks down to see the tanto covered in black flames coming out of his chest. He felt his strength start to leave him as the man tossed him at Kushina.

The red head rushed towards her husband and cradled him in her arms. She began to cry as she saw the black fire burn a larger hole in him.

"Finish them." Kushina looked up to see Kurama raise his claw and prepare to strike them down. Kushina was afraid. She was afraid herself, her husband, her daughter, and her friend. If Kurama went through with this it would kill him as much as he was about to kill Kushina and her family. She saw the claw come down at her.

"Kurama! Stop!" To the amazement of everyone present Kurama stopped when he heard Kushina's voice.

"Their bond is stronger than I thought." The masked man turned to look at Kurama in an attempt to reassert his control on the Kyubi. As he turned Minato saw his chance. The blond appeared in front of the masked man. Right over the three point Kunai that was on the roof.

"You lose." Minato chuckled as he placed a contract seal on the man to destroy the control he had over Kurama. Minato knew that with this it is his victory as he fell to his knees. The Sharingan user cursed under his breath and moved just in time to avoid a strike from Kurama, who appeared to be severely pissed off. Kurama regained control of his body and turned of all his focus to the black haired man and began to attack him without restraint. The man leapt form building to building as he avoided the Kyubi's attacks. As he landed on the next building he was immediately thrown high into the sky by one of Kurama's tails. The man fell back to the earth and when he looked at Kurama he saw a Tailed-Beast Ball ready to launch. The attack was fired and the man tried to allow it to pass through him, but the power was too great and he cried out in pain as the energy coursed through his body. The Sharingan user hit the ground hard.

Kushina let out a sigh of relief as she saw Kurama dispatch the masked man. She knew that everything was over for now and she could focus on making sure her family was alright. Her resolve broke when she saw how difficult it was for Minato to breath. Kurama made his way back over to the family and shrunk down to the size of a normal fox, though still with nine tails.

"**How is he?"** The now miniature Kyubi had a look of concern on his face as he sat down next to Kushina. The question really did not need to be answered or asked in the first place. It was clear that Minato was hurt badly. The Kyubi took a second to look over Kushina and her daughter as well, neither seemed to be in the best of shape. Kushina looked to be in pain, most likely because he was torn out of her. He knew what that meant for most jinchuriki and he was honestly and happily surprised that she was still alive. The baby was another matter entirely. One would think she was dead because she did not seem to be moving. The only indication of life was the slight rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

"Kurama? Is that you?" Kurama was shocked as he realized that it was Minato who had just spoken to him. It was a miracle that he was still alive after taking a blade covered in Amaterasu through the chest.

"Minato?" Kushina looked down at her husband who his head on her lap as she held their daughter in her arms. She took her left hand and began to stroke his cheek.

"Kushina. Hey, no crying on me, okay? Kurama is alright and so is out daughter. Heh, we still need to pick a name for her don't we?" Minato looked as his daughter and marveled at how beautiful she was.

"We can name her anything you want. Just stick around so that she can complain about it when she gets older." Kushina did not want the love of her life to leave her and their child alone. She started to sob.

"Shh, it's going to be okay. Hey. I have an idea. Why don't we name her after our favorite gutsy ninja?" Minato had a smile on his face as he remembered their shared favorite book.

"Naruto? But she's a girl." Kushina had to laugh at the thought of their daughter being named after a guy, especially one that was not even real.

"I know. Okay. How about Naruko? That could be a girl's name, right?" It sounded right to him.

"Yeah, I like it. Little Naruko Namikaze." Kushina smiled down at Naruko.

"No. With that hair she is definitely an Uzumaki. Naruko Uzumaki. Hm, has a nice ring to it." The couple along with Kurama let out a laugh at Minato's statement. Then Minato started to cough and spat out some blood.

"I don't think I'm going to last much longer." He stares up at his wife and their eyes lock. "Kushina. I love you. I would love nothing more than to have been able to spend the rest of my life with you raising our daughter together. You two are the most important things in the world to me. I will love you both forever." Kushina had broken down in tears by this point and was clutching on desperately to her husband with her free arm.

"Kurama. I want you to look after these two for me. They mean the world to me and if you let anything happen to them I'll haunt your furry ass for the rest of time. " Kurama just nodded as he watched his friend slowly die before his eyes. It was not the way Kurama would ever have expected Minato to go. As Minato closed his eyes for the final time Naruko began crying.

-4 years later-

'_My father was a hero, wasn't he?'_ Naruko was sitting under a tree with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. At three Naruko had grown her first tail and it too was wrapped around her body.

'**Yes kit he was. A true hero and a true friend. He will be remembered for all time." **Kurama thought fondly of his old friend and wished he could see the person his daughter was growing into. If Kurama was right she would be even greater than her father.

'_I miss them, which is weird because I never even knew my father and I can barely remember my mother.' _Kurama let out a heavy sigh. Kushina had managed to live for a year after Kurama was removed from her. He body suffered heavily from the strain and slowly her organs began to fail. It was sad to watch her go, but she had plenty of happy times with her daughter before she passed away.

'**I know kit, I know. I miss them too. But at least we have each other.'** He really did miss them they were his best friends and the closest thing he had to family in the mortal realm. All his actual family was in the demon realm and most of them were assholes.

'_I know Kurama, it's just sometimes I wish I had a bigger family. It's just you, me, and gramps out here on the road. Momma Aika is always busy with work so I hardly get to see her. I wish that I had a home and a family to go home too.'_ Naruko had lived the last three years of her life on the road with her gramps and while it was rewarding, it was not what she wanted for the rest of her life. She wanted a big family.

'**Well that is obtainable.'** Naruko sat straight up upon hearing this.

'_How could I have a big family when I'm the last of the Uzumaki?'_ Kurama just chuckled. Sometimes he was amazed by how intelligent Naruko could be, but at times like this she still acted like a four year old.

'**That is true, but what you seem to be forgetting is that you are the heir to the Uzumaki clan so you can revive your clan. All you have to do is find a man willing to marry you and take your name, then have a bunch of kids together.'** Naruko shook her head.

'_No way. Boys are gross. They're just like gramps, all pervy and creepy.'_ Kurama laughed at the description Naruko gave.

'**In that case what you need to do is go around and adopt strong individuals into your clan so they can repopulate it for you. They gain the privileges of being in the Uzumaki clan and you get a big family.'** Kurama was quite pleased with his solution and he believed Minato would agree with him. After all, what father would want to see his little girl chasing after some guy?

'_That sounds easy! I'm going to do it. I'm going to revive the Uzumaki clan!'_ Naruko shot up and spun around on one leg with her fist in the air, a huge grin on her face.

"What are you doing kid? I thought I told you to stay close to camp." Naruko turned to see her gramps walking towards her. She smiled at him.

"Hey Gramps! Dad and I were just talking about stuff. Guess what? I'm going to revive the Uzumaki clan." Naruko was practically bouncing on her feet while she shouted this.

"That's nice sweetheart. I still don't get how you can call me Gramps, but you call that fox Dad. He is way older than I am." Jiraiya always got annoyed when he was called Gramps. He was only forty-one after all.

"It's because you look like an old man." Jiraiya practically feel on his face at hearing the comment made about his looks and Naruko had a huge smile on her face. Kurama was laughing to himself.

"Yeah whatever. Let's go back and eat. We need to get up early tomorrow if we want to make it to Konoha before dark." Jiraiya turned and headed back to camp with Naruko following close behind. She was looking forward to seeing her old home again.

**A/N: And that's chapter one. I hope you liked it and are looking forward to the next one which should be out next week. Please review. I would love to get some feedback on how this turned out. Till next time.**


	2. First Real Friend

**A/N: Before you get started I just wanted to make a few more things clear. This story will take a few chapters to reach where it starts in the series. As some of you may have realized in the last chapter Naruko does not live in Konoha, she travels around with Jiraiya. The first few chapters will cover times Naruko visits the village before she finally stays and becomes a ninja. Again please review, I would love to get some feedback. Also, I have a busy weekend coming up and I start my internship next week so the next update might not be until November.**

**Declaimer: I do not own Naruto the series. I do however own all my OCs so please do not use them.**

Text examples:

"**Hello." **Biju or jinchuriki using biju's powers speaking

'Hi.' Person thinking

'_Hi there.'_ Person speaking through mental link

'**Howdy.' **Biju speaking through mental link

Chapter 2: First Real Friend

Naruko had always wanted to go back to Konoha. It was the place that her father grew up and where the legendary Sannin came from. Naruko still did not believe her gramps when he told her that he was the same Jiraiya from the stories. Kurama did not help any because he agreed with Naruko. He could not believe it either. Konoha was a dream for Naruko, a place where ninja lived together, trained, did missions, and even had families. It was even supposed to have the greatest ramen shop in the world, Ichiraku Ramen. Truly it seemed like a wonderland to Naruko. So it was understandable how excited she was when she saw the gates.

"We're here!" Naruko jumped up into the air and was about to run into the village when Jiraiya grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and lifted her up into the air.

"Calm down kid. No need to rush, we actually managed to get here early so we still have plenty of time to go check into a hotel. Besides that, you need to hide those ears and tail before we get any closer to the village." Jiraiya knew that there were other half-demons in the village, but most of them choose to use the transform technique to conceal their heritage rather than face persecution at the hands of some of the more hateful villagers. Jiraiya did not want Naruko to go through that and lose her love for Konoha.

"I hate having to hide who I am. When I revive my clan and become the head I'm never going to hide who I am again." Naruko pouted but made the hand signs for the transformation anyway. There was a puff of smoke as Naruko completed the jutsu. She was still in her orange sleeveless shirt and her black shorts with her shoulder length red hair, but her tail was gone and her fox ears were replace by regular ears. She didn't bother to hide her whisker marks.

"I'm sure you will kid. Now let's get in there before it gets any later. I want a nice dinner before I go out tonight." Jiraiya was tired of the travelling provisions and wild game that they had been eating for the last few days. He wanted a real meal before he went out tonight to do research. He would go see the Hokage in the morning.

"Can we get ramen?" Jiraiya sighed. Of course she would want ramen. Whenever they stayed in a town she always wanted ramen.

"Sure kid, let's just get checked into the hotel first." Naruko made a cheerful shout and jumped in the air. When she hit the ground she started doing her ramen dance.

-Konoha Hotel-

"Hello sir. How may I help you?" Jiraiya walked up to the beautiful blond and brown eyed girl that was standing behind the counter. He put on his best charmer smile.

"Well hello there. Aren't you a lovely sight? There are a few things you can help me with, but I think they will have to wait till you're off tonight." The blond had a blush on her face. She was not used to this kind of thing. After all she was only nineteen. Jiraiya was having a blast. Her reaction would be perfect material for the new book idea that he just got about a very interesting hotel. Jiraiya's smile faded as he felt a tug on his pants. He looked down to see Naruko.

"Daddy, don't forget that Mommy wanted a luxury suite for the week and to make sure that it had two beds, one for you and mommy and one for me." Jiraiya looked back at the girl behind the counter. Her eyes had narrowed and she had a scowl on her face. She was giving him her best death glare. After a few moments she put on a happy face as she looked down at Naruko.

"You got it, one luxury suite for a week with two beds." The girl rang them up on the register and Jiraiya paled when he saw the amount.

'This kid is going to be the death of me.' Not only had she just cost him a small fortune she probably just cut off all hope that he had of doing any research in the hotel. 'I have to ditch this kid soon otherwise I'll never get any research done.' Jiraiya looked at Naruko as he took the keys to the room. She was sticking her tongue out at him. As he looked up he saw a shapely woman just leaving the hotel. He got a stupid grin on his face and threw his stuff at Naruko along with some money.

"Take the bags to the room and there is some money for food. I'll see you around kid." With that Jiraiya took off out the door. Naruko frowned and walked back to the desk clerk and put down the keys.

"Is there any way that I can switch this to two rooms, one luxury and one cheap one?" The clerk looked at the girl.

"He isn't your father is he?" Naruko shook her head.

"No. He is my godfather and guardian though. Sorry about lying, but if I didn't say that then he would have tried to pull the whole single father who is looking for companionship card. You would be surprised how often that works." The clerk could only frown at what she heard.

"Let me take care of that for you." She took the keys from Naruko and gave her back a different set. "That is to the single upstairs. I'll have someone bring your bags up. You can leave his in the corner over there with the other key. Now is there anything I can help you with?" Naruko had a smile on her face. She liked the clerk, so she read the girl's nametag.

"Thanks for everything Rika! And there is one thing you can help me with. How do I get to Ichiraku Ramen?"

-Ichiraku Ramen-

"Damn kid, you sure can eat." The small girl that was sitting at his counter was already on her fifth bowl of ramen and had paid for five more.

"Thanks pops! Your ramen is great! That and I am a growing girl. Growing girls need to eat." The man could not help but laugh at the girl. She seemed so bright and cheerful.

"Well thanks kid. I appreciate the complement. I'm Teuchi and this is my shop." Naruko looked up at her man, temporally forgetting her ramen.

"You can own a ramen shop?!" Naruko had never heard of such a thing. How could someone own a sacred temple that was a ramen shop?

"Sure you can kid. Anyone can if they put the effort into it. This shop has been in my family for years and it's my hope that my daughter Ayame will take over for me. She's about your age actually, maybe a little older. You might like her, she loves cooking." The red head was ecstatic. She now had a new goal in life, a new dream, to own a ramen shop and eat ramen all day every day. Kurama heard the thought and let out a laugh.

'**Kit, what happened to reviving your clan? I thought that was your dream.'** Kurama knew that the girl was getting her priorities mixed up again.

'_Thanks Dad! I almost forgot. First revive my clan and then buy a ramen shop!'_ Naruko had a bright smile on her face as she looked back at Teuchi.

"It's great to meet you Uncle Teuchi! My name is Naruko Uzumaki and someday I'm going to revive the Uzumaki clan!" Teuchi smiled because the girl called him uncle and laughed because of how confident she seemed to be that she would revive her clan. He would guess that bringing back a clan was a very hard thing to do, but something told him that this girl might just be able to do it.

"It's great to meet you too Naruko and when you do revive your clan make sure to bring them all here for ramen." Naruko practically jumped out of her seat as she nodded her head up and down. That sounded like a great idea. Naruko finished off the next five bowls of ramen and said goodbye to Teuchi as she made her way down the street.

-Near the Hyuga Compound-

"Hey Hyuga!" A small dark blue haired girl turned around when she heard her family name. A group of boys a few years older than her were walking towards her. Based off of their looks they seemed to be Uchiha.

"W-what do y-you want?" The small girl did not like to be around people and she often stuttered when she had to talk to them. One of the boys approached her and pushed her into the wall. She let out a little cry when she hit the wall. She was not pushed that hard, but it still hurt.

"I want you and your whole clan to go away. You no good Hyugas are nothing but weaklings and should be kicked out of the village." The other boys behind the apparent leader let out voices of agreement as they moved to surround her. The girl backed up against the wall as fear gripped her. She saw the boy who had first called out to her draw his fist back and she closed her eyes in anticipation of the hit. The blue haired girl heard the sound of someone being hit, but she felt no pain. She opened her eyes in her confusion. The boy that was about to hit her was on the ground holding his bloody nose. The blue haired girl saw a girl with red hair and an angry look on her face standing near the boy on the ground.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Naruko had been trying to figure out how to get back to Ichiruka's so she could find her way to the hotel. In her search she had come upon these bullies who were about to beat up a little girl and she could not stand for that. It did not even matter to her that there were more of them or that they were older then her. What mattered is that they were doing something wrong and she was going to correct that very shortly.

"We're putting this Hyuga girl in her place." The voice had come from behind Naruko so she turned around to face the other boys that were still standing. The boy that she had hit was on the ground crying and did not seem to be getting up anytime soon.

"Oh yeah? Well how about you leave her alone before I put you in your place." The red head let out a very fox like growl. She really did not like bullies. There was no point to them. They just hurt people for no reason.

"Try it!" Naruko smiled at the boy's invitation. She pushed off the ground and closed the distance on the boy who just talked almost instantly. He was surprised by her speed, but did not get the chance to react as a fist slammed into his jaw and sent him tumbling backwards. The two boys that were left were shocked. They had figured the girl got lucky the first time since she caught them by surprise, but now they were thinking otherwise. Naruko faced the next boy and kicked him sharply in the shin, causing him to let out a cry of pain as he fell to the ground. The last boy wised up and ran away when the red head locked her eyes on him. He swore that her eyes had turned red. The other boys picked themselves up and followed their friend. The blue haired girl was wide eyed at what she just saw. A girl around her own age just took out three boys who were older than them and made a fourth run away in fear. She could not help but be a little afraid too as the girl turned to look at her.

"Are you okay?" The shy girl was surprised by the concern and compassion that she saw in the red head's eyes. All she could do was nod. "That's a relief. I'm glad I got here when I did before things could get worse." The blue haired girl lowered her head and kept her eyes on the ground.

"Th-thank y-you for helping m-me." Naruko looked at the other girl and smiled at her. The girl was obviously still afraid if she was stuttering so much.

"Hey now, there's no need for that. Those jerks are gone and you're safe. I'm Naruko." Naruko put on her best smile and held out her hand to the blue haired girl.

"My n-name is Hinata." Hinata took the girls and shook it.

"There, that's better. Well Hinata, let's get you home. It is getting kind of late." Naruko turned and started walking down the street. She never let go of Hinata's hand. After a few blocks Naruko stopped while scratching the back of her head and turned towards the other girl.

"Um, where do you live?" Hinata had barely heard the question. She was blushing over the fact that her hero was holding her hand still. When the question finally registered she looked up.

"The Hy-hyuga compound." Naruko looked to be in serious thought for a second as she rubbed her chin. Then she looked at Hinata blankly.

"I have no idea where that is." Hinata smiled a little at the omission. She liked that the red head was honest. Hinata used her free hand to point Naruko in the right direction. The two continued to walk hand in hand the whole way while Naruko talked about how those boys were such jerks and that Hinata should go try Ichiraku Raman sometime. After about ten minutes they were in sight of the gates of the Hyuga Compound right as a woman was making her way out of the gates. She looked over at them and broke out in a sprint. She ran to them and dropped to her knees as she enveloped Hinata in a hug.

"Hinata, thank Kami you're alright." The woman looked relieved and let out a sigh releasing all her pent up anxiety. Then her face got serious as she held Hinata at arm's length. "Where have you been young lady? I went to your room and you weren't there. When I saw the latch on your window open I almost had a heart attack thinking someone had kidnapped you, but then I realized your shoes were gone too so I figured you snuck out. You are so lucky your father hadn't noticed. He would have been furious." Hinata looked on the verge of tears as the woman spoke. Naruko was about to snap at the woman for making Hinata cry, but Hinata spoke up first.

"I'm sorry m-mother. I just. I just w-wanted to get you a p-present for your bi-birthday." Hinata was crying by this point and her mother just smiled as she took her daughter into her arms once again.

"Shh, it's okay my little sunflower. I'm sorry for raising my voice. Mommy was just really worried about her little girl. Do you forgive me?" Hinata hugged her mom back as she nodded her head. Her tears stopping as she leaned into the embrace. Naruko was smiling at the display of love and she was a little jealous too. She had not gotten a chance to hug Hinata yet. Hinata's mother stood up and looked at the two.

"So Hinata, who is your friend?" Hinata hesitated for a moment as if she was trying to work up her courage. Naruko saw this and took her hand again. Hinata's blush went up to her ears.

"This is Naruko." Hinata's mother was pleasantly surprised. She had never heard her daughter say anything without stuttering before. She instantly liked the red head.

"Hello Naruko. I'm Himeko Hyuga, Hinata's mother. It's a pleasure to meet you and thank you for bringing my daughter home." Himeko and Naruko smiled at each other.

"Nice to meet you Lady Hyuga." Naruko gave her a little bow while still holding Hinata's hand. The action surprised the two Hyugas. The red head did not seem the type to bow. Naruko stood up still with a smile present. "And it was no problem bringing her home. She was actually the one to show me the way. I'm just glad I came across her before those jerks could do anything to her." Naruko felt her hand being squeezed tightly and she looked over at Hinata, who smiled at the red head.

"What jerks?" The elder Hyuga was curious as to what happened. Naruko turned back towards Himeko.

"A bunch of boys had her surrounded and one of them tried to hit her, but I hit him first and beat the others up." Himeko was surprised to say the least. This small girl not only brought her daughter home, but also saved her from a possible beating.

"Is this true Hinata?" Himeko had no cause distrust the girl, but neither did she have a reason to trust her. Hinata still had a smile on her face as she nodded her head. "Well I think a reward is due to you Naruko, for your brave actions in protecting my daughter. So what would you like?" Naruko rubbed her chin with her free hand as she thought about the question. Then she snapped her fingers and looked at Himeko.

"I want to hang out with Hinata tomorrow!" Himeko giggled at the girl's choice. Naruko really did seem to be a very good natured little girl.

"Well I think that can be arranged. Hinata has lessons in the morning, but she is free in the afternoon. Why don't you come by around then and the two of you can have lunch together, how does that sound?" Hinata and Naruko looked at each other and smiled.

"That sounds great Lady Hyuga. I can't wait!" Naruko did a little bow to show her thanks. Himeko giggle again.

"Please Naruko, just call me Himeko." Himeko really felt strange having such a small girl calling her Lady. Even if it was a proper title it made her feel old.

"Thanks Aunt Himeko." Naruko turned towards Hinata and hugged her. "I'll see you tomorrow Hinata." Naruko's voice was a soft whisper in Hinata's ear that set her blush off again. Naruko let go of Hinata and backed up a little. She was about to let her arms drop when Hinata caught her hands with her own.

"Good night Naruko." Hinata had her head down to try to hide her blush.

"Good night Hinata." Naruko squeezed both of Hinata's hands before she turned and started to walk away. She got about half way down the block before she stopped and ran back to the gate. "Do you know how to get to Konoha Hotel from here? I have no idea how to get back there." Himeko laughed a little as she shook her head.

"I think we can do better. Hinata? Can you run inside and get a map for me?" Hinata nodded and went inside. "I'll mark it on the map and you can keep it so you know how to get back here tomorrow."

"Thanks Aunt Himeko." Naruko bowed again. Himeko crouched down so she was at eye level with the girl.

"You're welcome Naruko and thank you again for protecting my daughter." Himeko leaned forward and hugged Naruko tightly. The red head was frozen for a moment. She had not expected to be hugged by the woman, let alone how natural it felt. She felt protected and cared for. It amazed her how caring the woman could be to someone she just met. Naruko picked up her arms and hugged Himeko back, a grin was on the red head's face.

'**Naruko. I wish to speak with her.'** Naruko was surprised at the unasked request. She let go of Himeko and took a step back.

'_Are you sure Dad?'_ Kurama was quite for a moment.

'**Yes kit. We can trust her.'** Naruko nodded her head and looked back at Himeko, who had stood up again.

"Dad says he wants to talk to you." Himeko was about to ask what Naruko meant, but she stopped when she saw the girl bite her thumb. Naruko did a series of hand signs and then slammed her right hand on the ground creating a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared there was a red-orange fox with nine tails sitting on its hind legs next to Naruko. "Aunt Himeko, Dad. Dad, Aunt Himeko." Himeko was speechless.

"**Hello Lady Himeko. Kit, why don't you go inside and see if you can find Hinata and give her a hand. Ask the first person you come across to take you to her. I don't want you causing trouble."** Naruko smiled and went off inside to look for Hinata.

"Who are you?" The fox was clearly a demon because he could talk and he had just been summoned through the use of a summoning jutsu. 'Naruko called him dad so does that mean that Naruko is a half-demon? Hiashi would have a fit if he found out about this.'

"**I am the Kyubi and my name is Kurama."** Himeko's eyes went wide.

"And you're Naruko's father?" 'Was Naruko really the child of the Kyubi?' Himeko was flabbergasted.

"**Yes and no. I am not her birth father. He was Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage. Her mother was Kushina Uzumaki. I was sealed in Kushina during the length of her pregnancy. As such Naruko was exposed to demonic chakra since her conception making her a half-demon. I was sealed inside Naruko shortly after her birth and have been with her ever since. I have taught her and raised her like she was my own, which is why she calls me dad."** Kurama smiled as he thought back on the last few years. It was a blessing to watch the child grow.

"Why are you telling me all this?" It did not make sense to the Hyuga woman. If this was all true why would Kurama reveal himself and reveal that Naruko was a half-demon. If the information got out it could lead to Naruko being hunted down and possibly killed.

"**Because I want you to know what you are getting into by allowing your daughter to be around mine."** Kurama knew that he could trust Lady Himeko. She had a kind and understanding aura about her. He knew she would be able to accept what Naruko was so he decided to not keep it a secret from her. Himeko did not respond for quite some time.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that Naruko is a good girl and she makes Hinata smile. That's all I care about." She smiled at the fox.

"**Thank you. Now if you will excuse me, I can sense Naruko approaching. It was been a pleasure to meet you Lady Himeko."** Kurama bowed his head and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Himeko bowed slightly at the spot Kurama just was. She turned around as she heard the girls approaching. Her eyes shot open wide.

"What happened to you two?" The two girls were soaking wet. Hinata looked embarrassed and could not make eye contact, while Naruko had a sheepish grin on her face.

"Nothing." Naruko keep the grin on her face as she handed the map to Himeko. Surprisingly enough it was completely dry. Himeko just shook her head as she took out a pen and marked down how to get to the hotel.

"Here you go." She handed the map to Naruko. "The street we're on is the one right there on the map. You can take the same route to get here tomorrow." Naruko looked down on the map trying to memorize the way.

"Thank you so much Aunt Himeko." Naruko bowed and turned towards Hinata and hugged her quickly before running off. "I'll see you tomorrow Hinata!" The two watched as the red head turned at a corner down the street. Himeko turned and took her daughter's hand as they walked inside.

"So why were you two all wet?" Himeko looked down at her daughter and saw the blush on Hinata's face reach all the way to her ears. All the Hyuga woman could do was laugh.

-Konoha Hotel-

Naruko walked into the hotel with a huge grin on her face and she was practically skipping as she walked. Thankfully she had dried off quite a bit on the walk back otherwise she would have stood outside till she was dry.

"Have a good night?" Naruko stopped mid stride and turned to see Rika still standing behind the desk.

"I'm surprised you're still here. I would've thought you'd gone home by now." Naruko made her way over to the front desk. Rika lifted a hand and waved at the girl.

"My family owns the hotel so I actually live here, so technically I'm already home." Naruko thought this was interesting. She never knew you could live where you worked. It made her wonder if she could live at a roman shop when she owned one.

"That's pretty cool. It must be nice to be able to work so close to where you can sleep. Once you're finished you can just go straight to bed." The desk clerk had to nod at the statement. It was nice to just walk twenty feet to your bed once work was over.

"That's true. Hey, I just realized that I never got your name." The red head scratched the back of her head as she realized that Rika was right.

"Sorry about that. I'm Naruko." Naruko reached out and the two shook hands.

"Well Naruko, did you have a good night?" The smile that appeared on Naruko's face was one of the biggest Rika had ever seen.

"Yeah I did. It was great. Not only did I taste the best ramen in the world today I also got to make a new friend." Naruko was fondly thinking about the night she had and got lost in her memories for a moment.

"Oh, anyone I might know?" Rika knew a lot of people in the village so there was always a chance that she knew who ever it was that Naruko had met.

"Not sure. Do you know any Hyugas?" Rika was shocked to say the least. The Hyuga did not often associate with ninja outside of their clan, let alone civilians. Naruko must have met one of the nicer branch family members.

"I know a few. What was his name?" She did know a few of the workers at the Hyuga Compound and they were Hyugas even if they were of the branch family.

"Her name was Hinata. I met her mom, Himeko, too. They were really nice and I get to hang out with Hinata tomorrow." Rika was almost floored. Here was a little girl talking so casually about meeting the wife of the head and the heir of the Hyuga clan. Not to mention that Naruko was actually allowed to see the Hyuga heir as if the two were friends. Just who was this little girl?

"I've heard of them before. They are pretty important." That was an understatement. The Hyuga was one of the two most influential clans in the village, the other being the Uchiha.

"I got that feeling from them. They didn't act like it though. Hinata was really shy and Aunt Himeko seemed just like a caring mother." Rika looked incredulously at the girl. Did she just say aunt?

"Aunt Himeko?" Rika could not believe Naruko was calling the wife of the Head of the Hyuga Clan aunt.

"Yeah, she didn't seem to mind." Naruko let out a large yawn and then laughed. "I guess it's bed time. Good night Rika." Naruko waved and then made her way to the stairs. Rika stared at the red head's back as she walked away.

"Definitely time for bed." She walked to the front door and locked it while trying to convince herself she did not just see Naruko with a tail.

-Stairwell-

Naruko made it about three steps up the before sliding to the floor asleep. Kurama let out a sigh and took over her body as the red head slept in his forest. Kurama got Naruko's body to stand up and make its way to Naruko's room. Once inside he made Naruko's hands perform the fox summoning jutsu. The red head's hand hit the ground and smoke appeared. As the smoke cleared a brown fox the size of a horse with seven tails was revealed.

"**Aika. Get Naruko cleaned up and into bed. She's had a very exciting day."** With that Kurama went back to his forest and Naruko started snoring a little. She dipped slightly but Aika transformed quickly and caught her. Aika was a tall slim woman in her thirties when she was in human form with fox ears on top of her head and her seven tails swayed back and forth. The brown haired woman wore a white kimono with a red sash around her waist. She had been helping take of Naruko for the last three years, Jiraiya none the wiser. She sat the girl down for a moment and went over to her bag and grabbed some sleeping clothes for the girl. Aika picked up Naruko, taking her into the bathroom and she washed the girl's face. Aika then changed Naruko's clothes and took her back into the sleeping area where she folded down the sheets to put Naruko on the bed. Aika smiled at the girl, she truly did think of the red head as her own kit. Realizing that it had been quite some time since she was last summoned she decided to stay for the night and curled up next to the red head. Soon she was sound asleep.

**A/N: And that ladies and gentlemen is chapter 2. I hope you like my first two OCs Rika and Aika, whose names are quite alike now that I think about it, but oh well too late to change it, I'm attached to the names now. Both will make an appearance in the later chapters as well so look forward to reading more about them. Also, there does not seem to be an actual name for Hinata's mother so I just picked one. I stuck with the H theme with the family if you hadn't noticed. Till next time.**


	3. Failings as a Guardian

**A/N: Hey everybody, sorry for the wait. This one is a bit shorter than usual, but it touches on some serious topics so I hope that makes up for it. I swear this thing writes itself sometimes, I did not even plan half of what ended up in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Text examples:

"**Hello." **Biju or jinchuriki using biju's powers speaking

'Hi.' Person thinking

'_Hi there.'_ Person speaking through mental link

'**Howdy.' **Biju speaking through mental link

Chapter 3: Failings as a Guardian

Naruko woke up and tried to stretch out a bit only to find a pair of arms wrapped around her. She turned a little and smiled when she saw that it was Aika. The red head scooted up a little and kissed the woman on the cheek.

"Wake up Momma." The brown haired woman was the closest thing Naruko had to a mother. The fox girl knew her real mother was Kushina, but Aika had always been there when she need her and as far as Naruko was concerned that made Aika he mom too. The older woman opened her eyes and smiled down at the girl before she placed a kiss on Naruko's forehead.

"Good morning kit. How did you sleep?" Aika drew her girl closer and the two snuggled together. The red head had a tired smile on her face.

"I slept great! I dreamt that I was out with Hinata and it started to rain ramen!" Naruko grinned brightly as she thought about the best dream she ever had. Aika was pleased with the response, but she had to ask a question.

"That sounds great Naruko, but who's Hinata?" Naruko's face seemed to light up when she thought of the blue haired girl.

"She's my new friend! I met her yesterday when I saved her from a bunch of jerks. She's really nice and her eyes are pure white like snow." Aika shook her head, beating up bullies definitely sounded like something Naruko would do.

"That's very brave of you kit. It sounds like one of those old fairytale love stories." It really did sound like a fairytale and Aika was proud of her little warrior for protecting the princess. Naruko dug her head into the mattress before she answered.

"Momma!" The red head was blushing so badly that it matched her hair. It was not a fairytale, even if it did sound like one. Aika just drew her little girl close and rubbed her back to calm her down. She sat up and looked around the room.

"I can't believe Jiraiya actually got such a nice room for you." The Luxury suite was great. It not only had a queen sized bed, but also a TV, a complete kitchen, a balcony, and a massage chair. Naruko grinned sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head.

"Well I may have tricked him into getting the luxury suite and then convinced Rika to change it to two singles. Oh, Rika is the nice lady who works at the check in desk." Aika was happy for the girl. It seemed that she was meeting a lot of good people.

"That's great honey. It sounds like you've been having lots of fun." The girl nodded in agreement and got out of bed. She had noticed the clock and decided to get up seeing how it was already eight in the morning. Naruko walked over to her bag and started to pick out clothes for the day. She wanted to wear something nice to meet Hinata later.

"Momma. How much longer can you stay?" Naruko knew Aika could never stay for long since she had duties in the demon realm, so she was always grateful for the time they had together even if it was short. Naruko figured Kurama summoned Aika last night when she fell asleep. The only one with enough authority to get Aika away from her duties was the red head's Dad. Aika got off the bed and walked towards her kit.

"Not long kit. I probably should have left right away, but it's been a few weeks since I last saw you so I decided to stay the night. I missed my little girl." Aika hugged the girl from behind and placed a quick peck on her cheek. Naruko turned around in her Momma's arms and hugged her tightly.

"I love you Momma." Aika heard the small voice and clung onto the girl even tighter. She knew how much pain the girl had gone through even though she was so young. She wanted to protect her kit like any mother would.

"I love you too Naruko." The red head had a huge grin on her face. Her Momma always gave the best hugs, though she might lose her spot to Hinata once Naruko gets a hug from the Hyuga girl. The two parted and Aika kissed Naruko on her head. "Okay kit. I need to get going before someone realizes how long I've been gone." The other nobles could be such asses sometimes, Lord Kurama being the exception of course.

"Bye Momma." Naruko did not want to see her go, but she knew that her Momma had responsibilities. The woman smiled brightly at the small girl.

"Goodbye my little fox." Aika squeezed Naruko one more time before she got up and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Naruko was a sad the woman had to go, but she was happy that she got to see her too. She took a deep breath and held it a second before letting it out. She turned around and grabbed some clean clothes along with her hygiene bag and went into the bathroom to get ready for the day. Half an hour later she was all cleaned up and heading downstairs after she performed the transformation to make herself look normal. She hadn't realized it, but she let it break last night before she headed off to bed.

-Hotel Lobby-

"Hey Rika!" The blond teen looked over to see Naruko coming down the stairs and she wondered why children always seemed to be so active in the morning.

"Hi Naruko. I take it you slept well?" The girl certainly seemed to have. The red head nodded as she approached.

"Yeah it was great! I love how big the bed is and the bath felt great!" Naruko was smiling as she remembered the joy of being able to take a bath after so long. She was used to sharing a room with Jiraiya and he never let her take baths. He said it was a waste of time. The clerk woman brightened a bit at the complements. She was proud of the hotel.

"I'm glad to hear that. Have you eaten yet this morning?" The answer became apparent as a loud growl came from the red head's stomach. Naruko just smiled and scratched the back of her head. Rika chuckled. "We have a complimentary breakfast bar through that door over there." Naruko looked at where Rika was pointing and sure enough she could see breakfast foods laid out on a table.

"Thanks Rika, you're the best! Oh, so do you know if Gramps ever came in last night?" Naruko was used to Jiraiya not coming back some nights. She would go look for him and end up finding him in some alley somewhere. Why her parents ever picked the man to be her godfather was beyond her. Rika tilted her head to the side as she thought for a moment.

"You mean the old perv? Last time I checked he was passed out in the entryway." It was not a pleasant thing to find during the morning shift, but Rika would be lying if she said she had never seen worse. Naruko turned and headed over to the entryway. She opened the door and stuck her head out. In the corner of the entryway was Jiraiya passed out with a bottle of sake in his hand. Naruko grinned evilly.

"Aunt Tsunade! What are you doing with that knife?!" As soon as the words left Naruko's mouth Jiraiya was up and running. He ran straight into the wall on the other side of the entryway. The white haired man hit the wall so hard he actually stuck there for a few seconds before he slid to the floor. Naruko was laughing uncontrollably. Jiraiya eventually rolled over and looked around.

"That wasn't funny brat." Jiraiya was giving his goddaughter a death glare that could peel paint, but it did not seem to affect her. The red head just laughed it off.

"It totally is funny." Naruko was laughing so hard she thought she might pee herself. "Come on. Get up and lets grad some grub." Jiraiya got up and followed Naruko into the breakfast area. They each grabbed a plate and began to put food on it.

"Once we finish here we have a meeting with the Hokage." Naruko almost dropped her food when she heard that.

"The Hokage. I get the meet THE HOKAGE?!" The white haired man just nodded as he rubbed his temples. He had a wicked handover and the yelling was not helping. "That is so cool!" Naruko got a cup of juice and proceed to a table to eat. She was inhaling her food. The faster she ate the sooner she got to meet the Hokage, at least in her mind that was how it worked. And apparently that was how it worked. Once she finished eating she got up, grabbed Jiraiya, and ran out the door with him. Rika almost cracked her neck form the whiplash of turning her head so fast.

-Academy Building-

Naruko had actually managed to find the Academy with the help of the map that Himeko had given her. The little red head was excited to say the least. She knew a lot about the Hokages, her father had been one after all. They were the strongest ninja in the village at their appointment and it was rumored that Hiruzen Sarutobi had been the strongest Hokage ever. He was one of Naruko's heroes, right after her mother and father and her Dad and Momma Aika. It would sadden Jiraiya to learn that he was not even on the list. The two made their way inside and headed to the administrative portion of the building where the Hokage's office was. They stood outside the office and Naruko had to take a breath to keep from bouncing off the walls. Jiraiya slammed the door open.

"Hey sensei! Long time no see!" Jiraiya made his way into the office leaving a slightly annoyed Naruko at the door. That was no way to talk to the Hokage. The Hokage looked up from his paperwork and smiled at his old student.

"Jiraiya. It's good to see you again. It has been too long." The Hokage embraced Jiraiya for a moment and then turned to Naruko. "Naruko it is so good to see you again." Naruko bowed to him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you again Lord Hokage." Hiruzen was impressed by the respect that she showed him. Not many children her age could behave so properly. Jiraiya thought he was hallucinating. He had never seen Naruko act this way before, she never showed respect to others, not even him.

"How come you never show that much respect to me brat?" Naruko smiled at Jiraiya.

"Because I only show respect to those who deserve it." Jiraiya practically hit the floor as Hiruzen and Kurama laughed. Jiraiya got back on his feet and picked up Naruko by the scruff of her neck and held her in front of his face.

"You little ingrate! I raised you for the last 3 years and I get no respect?" He could not believe the red head thought that little of him. Naruko glared daggers at him.

"You raised me? All you did was pay for hotel rooms and then go off chasing skirts all night! Dad and Momma are the ones who have been raising me! You used to leave me alone for hours all by myself and it never occurred to you to feed or change me! While you were out all night Dad would bring me to his forest and play with me! Then he would use my body to do hand signs and summon Momma Aika to take care of me! You never did a thing! Who do you think it was who taught me how to talk? How to read and write? It sure as hell wasn't you!" Naruko was pissed. She could not believe Jiraiya had the nerve to say that he raised her. The white haired man looked stricken. He put the girl back on the ground. The white haired man had always assumed that the girl had just picked up how to do those things by watching him. He had no idea that he was doing so poorly at raising the girl. Hiruzen had been surprised by what he heard. From the letters he got from Jiraiya he had known that Naruko called Kurama Dad, but he had no idea who this Aika woman was. Nor did he realize how bad Jiraiya was at being a guardian. All the letters indicated that he was doing a decent job of it. The Hokage let out a sigh and looked at his former student only to see the man walking out the door.

"Jiraiya!" He did not even look back at Hiruzen. Naruko just watched the man as he walked down the hall.

"Let him go. That's what he's good at. Walking away." Hiruzen did not know what to say to the remark, so he let it go.

"Is he really that bad?" Naruko looked up at the Hokage and shook her head as she released a heavy sigh.

"No, he isn't that bad. He has his moments where Dad just wants to strangle him, but he isn't that bad. He does an alright job nowadays. He may be a perverted lady's man, but he makes sure that I always have a roof over my head, clean clothes to wear, and good food in my belly. He even plays with me sometimes and we have a lot of fun." Naruko's anger had dissipated and she was smiling a little. Hiruzen was glad to hear that his former student was not a complete failure at being a guardian.

"I'm glad to hear that, but it still means he can do better." The red head let out a little noise in agreement. "I'll speak with him some more later." Hiruzen knew the man would be at his favorite bar drinking, trying to figure out where he went wrong. He meant well but his heart was not always in the right place. His mind wandered back to a question he thought of earlier. "Naruko, who is Aika?" The red head smiled as she thought of her Momma.

"Momma Aika is a fox from the demon realm. Dad used to use my body to summon her when I needed taking care of when I was little. She's really nice and she takes good care of me." Hiruzen was a bit surprised at learning that Kurama could take over the young girl's body, but he let it go. If the demon had not wreaked havoc in the past he doubted Kurama would do it now.

"I am glad that there was someone to take care of you when Jiraiya was away. I would like to meet Aika someday and thank her for all that she has done for you." The Hokage really was grateful and truly happy that Naruko had some kind of mother figure in her life, even if she was a fox demon. Naruko nodded with a smile on her face before she remembered something.

"So Lord Hokage, what is this meeting supposed to be about." Hiruzen had nearly forgotten the entire purpose of the girl's visit today. He made his way back around behind his desk.

"Ah yes, well it isn't really a meeting. I just had to call it that to get time out of my schedule for it. The reason you are here is so that I could give you this." Hiruzen pulled out a small blue crystal from his desk draw and handed it over to Naruko. She took the crystal and for a split second she thought she saw a man floating in a void of white, but then it was gone. Naruko blinked a few times and wondered what she had just seen, but dismissed it as nothing as she took to examining the crystal.

"It's really pretty. I get to keep it?" Naruko really liked the small crystal for some reason. Hiruzen was not surprised that the girl had taken an interest in the crystal so quickly.

"Yes you get to keep it. It belonged to your mother. I would have gotten it to you sooner but I misplaced it for a while." Hiruzen had a sheepish look on his face. He was a bit embarrassed that he had lost something so valuable for so long. The red head went wide eyed as she looked at the man.

"This was my Mother's?" Naruko looked back at the crystal liking it even more now that she knew of the connection it had to her mother. The Hokage chuckled to himself.

"Yes. It is actually an old Uzumaki Clan relic that is passed down to the heirs when they are old enough." Hiruzen seemed a little sad as he remembered the lost clan. Well almost lost, there was one Uzumaki left. Naruko had to smile.

"Cool!" The red head did a little jump and put the crystal in her pocket. Then she seemed to remember something. "Oh that reminds me. Lord Hokage how do I adopt people into the Uzumaki clan." Hiruzen was quite surprised by the question. He wondered if the little girl was really only four. No doubt Kurama played a heavy roll in her development.

"Well Naruko, being the heir of the Uzumaki clan you will have the right to adopt people into your clan once you become clan head, which will happen when you turn thirteen. Once you're clan head you need two other clan heads to approve of the candidate and sign off on them as well as my approval. That and a whole lot of paperwork, but that is more on my end than yours." Naruko was chest-fallen when she heard this. Not only did she have to wait nine years before she could start adopting people into her clan, but also find two clan heads you would be willing to help her.

"That sounds hard." Hiruzen chuckled to himself. He guessed it did sound hard to a four year old who has never even met a clan head before.

"Well it might not be so bad. Your mother was fairly good friends with the heirs of the Yamanaka and the Inuzuka clan back in the day. Both of which will probably be the heads of their respective clans by the time you become head of the Uzumaki clan. So they may be able to help you out." Naruko brightened up considerably after hearing that. She started to repeat the two names over and over again in her head so she would not forget them.

"Yamanaka and Inuzuka, got it! Thank you Lord Hokage." Naruko bowed to the man and he smiled at the girl.

"Well if that's everything I really should get back to work. It is almost time for lunch and I really don't want to miss out on the curry chicken today." Naruko went wide eyed and looked at the clock. It was already eleven thirty. She had to move fast if she wanted to get to the Hyuga Compound on time.

"Crap! I have to run! Thank you for everything Lord Hokage!" Naruko did a quick bow before racing off out the door. Hiruzen was wearing an amused expression as he watched the girl go. It must me so nice to be young.

**A/N: And there you have it folks, Chapter 3! I hope you all enjoyed and are looking forward to the next update, which should be out in a week or so. And just to keep you interested, Jiraiya and Hiruzen will be having that talk next chapter.**


	4. Good Days Come

**A/N: Hello again. I hope you all are well and are looking forward to reading this chapter. There are quite a few tender moments in this one. You have been warned. If you have any questions feel free to PM me and as always please review. It makes this even more worthwhile to get some feedback.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Text examples:

"**Hello." **Biju or jinchuriki using biju's powers speaking

'Hi.' Person thinking

'_Hi there.'_ Person speaking through mental link

'**Howdy.' **Biju speaking through mental link

Chapter 4: Good Days Come

The young red head made her way down the street, double checking her map to make sure that she was going the right way. She had already gotten lost once and was not planning on doing so again if she could help it. Naruko had made a wrong turn and collided with a ninja that was wearing a pair of black glasses and had the cloth of this forehead protector covering his hair. The red head managed to stay on her feet and was off like a shot. The ninja had landed on his ass and was yelling after the girl about watching where she was going. Naruko ran full force towards the Hyuga Compound and reached the gates with ten minutes to spar. The little girl was huffing and puffing when she finally stopped. After a moment's rest she knocked on the gates. A big man opened the gates and looked down at the girl.

"State your name and business here." Naruko put on her best smile as she bowed to the man.

"Naruko Uzumaki. I am here to have lunch with Lady Hinata Hyuga." Naruko was grateful for all the lessons Aika had given her on proper etiquette for such situations even if they were a bore at the time. The man looked at the girl. She was wearing a white sun dress with a floral pattern and matching shoes. The red head did not seem to be dressed well enough to be seeing the heir, but he knew better to then assume so pulled out the list of names that he had been given that morning. Half way down the list was the name Naruko Namikaze. The man looked at the girl.

"Your name isn't on my list." Naruko looked confused. She did not think that the Hyuga women would have forgotten about her, but Kurama had a notion in mind as to why her name was not on the list.

'**Kit. I told Lady Himeko who your parents were. She might have thought that you used your father's family name.'** Naruko decided to give it a try.

"What about Naruko Namikaze. That was my father's family name. Uzumaki was my mother's and that is the one I usually go by." The man looked at the girl for a moment before he nodded and allowed her to pass.

"Wait at the entrance. Someone will be along to see you inside." Naruko bowed to the man again and made her way inside.

'_Thanks Dad._' The girl was smiling to herself.

'**You're welcome kit.'** He was always glad to help.

Naruko waited by the entrance for a few moments before a woman in a traditional kimono came to collect the girl and escorted her inside. The red head was amazed by how rich the Hyugas seem to be. She had not really paid attention the night before since she had been too focused on trying to find Hinata. Every wall seemed to have a painting on it and everything seemed to be polished and clean. They reached a door and the woman opened it for Naruko. The red head stepped inside and looked around. The room was fairly big with a low square table that had two pillows on either side. Naruko walked to the left and kneeled down on the pillow there as the door was closed behind her. After a few moments the door opposite her opened. She smiled at the person standing there.

"Hello Aunt Himeko." The Hyuga woman smiled as she saw Naruko give a little bow from where she was kneeling. Himeko walked over to the girl.

"Hello Naruko. I'm glad you could make it. Hinata's lesson should just be ending so she should be along shortly. I just wanted to say hello and see if you had any preferences about lunch." Naruko was grateful for the woman's consideration. Himeko could have just as easily had a servant come in to ask, but the woman had taken the time to do it herself. The gesture was not lost on the red head.

"Thank you Aunt Himeko. I'll eat anything with meat in it, as long as it isn't fox." Himko became grim for a moment as she thought about what she just heard. She realized that since Naruko was half fox demon if she ate anything with fox in it, it would be a form of cannibalism. The woman came out of her thoughts to see Naruko looking up at her.

"Of course Naruko. No need to worry about that. I think we have some chicken that is already being prepared by the chefs. I'll make sure you and Hinata get some." Naruko bowed to the woman to show thanks. Himeko smiled and leaned over to rub Naruko's head. The girl let out a cute fox like noise as she felt her head rubbed. Himeko pulled her hand back in surprise. Naruko had a little blush on her face when she looked at the woman.

"Sorry about that. I like getting my head rubbed and scratched. Same goes for my tail. Momma Aika says I act just like a fox kit does when it happens." Himeko took a moment to think. She did not know who Aika was, but she figured the woman must be one of Naruko's caretakers. The Hyuga woman was glad that someone looked out for the girl.

"It's alright Naruko. I was just surprised." The two smiled at each other and then heard a door open and close. They looked over at the door to see Hinata standing there. The girl was wearing a dark blue formal looking kimono that appeared to be made out of silk. Naruko could not help but notices how nicely the other girl was dressed.

"Hinata! That kimono looks great on you! It's like you're a princess." Hinata's face turned as red as Naruko's hair and her mother chuckled a little.

"Well Hinata is the heir to the Hyuga clan so she is kind of like a princess." Naruko was shocked. She figured that the two Hyugas were high up there in the ranks of the clan, but she never realized that they were that high. The red head felt excitement well up inside her.

"That's so cool! Now I know another heir just like me. I'm so glad I met you Princess!" The red head bounced on her knees a little. Himeko smiled at the new nickname for her daughter. Hinata really did fit the role of a princess. Then a thought occurred to the Hyuga woman.

"I didn't realize that the Fourth Hokage had made the Namikaze an official clan." Naruko shook her head. By this time Hinata had kneeled down on the open cushion and looked at the two in front of her. The red head waved at her friend before she turned back to Himeko.

"My father was born a civilian and never received clan status. I was talking about the Uzumaki clan." It dawned on Himeko that the girl was in fact the last of the Uzumaki and rightful head of her clan, even if she was the last one.

"I see. Well I'll leave you two alone. I'll make sure you get some of that chicken Naruko." The Hyuga woman and Naruko bowed slightly to each other before the woman turned and made her way out of the room. Naruko looked at Hinata with a mischievous grin on her face. Hinata was about to say something, but was silenced when the red head leapt over the table and tackled her to the ground. The red head's grin turned evil as she began to tickle the poor Hyuga girl. Hinata was yelping and laughing all at the same time while she squirmed around under the red head.

"Naruko! Stop!" The fox girl instantly stopped and looked at Hinata. Naruko had never heard the shy girl shout before. Hinata took a moment to catch her breath before sitting up and facing the red head. Naruko bit her lip. The Hyuga girl looked angry and Naruko did not want her new friend to be angry with her so she took the other girl into her arms and squeezed her tight.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think you would hate it that much." Naruko rubbed her cheek against Hinata's in a form of apology. A pleasant scent filled her nose. Lilacs. Hinata smelled like lilacs. How had she not noticed before? The blue haired girl raised her arms and hugged Naruko back. Naruko smiled brightly. Hinata gave better hugs than her Momma. Hinata's hug felt warm, comforting, caring, and most of all right. The red head felt right being in Hinata's arms. The Hyuga girl let out a sigh of contentment.

"I didn't hate it at all. It's just that no one has ever done that to me before. I was surprised." Hinata was red by this point. It had actually been kind of fun, but she had no idea what was happening so she was a little scared too. Naruko pulled back and looked at Hinata with big eyes.

"No one's ever tickled you before?" The thought alone seemed impossible to Naruko. Hinata was still blushing as she nodded her head. "Well it's a lot of fun to be tickled and to tickle someone too. Here give it a try." Naruko took one of Hinata's hands in her own and brought it to her side. "Just wiggle your fingers a bit." Hinata nodded again and began to wiggle her fingers against Naruko's ribs. The red head let out a very fox like yelp and began to laugh uncontrollably. Hinata started to smile and brought her remaining hand to Naruko's other side and began to tickle the girl there as well. Naruko fell to the floor unable to keep herself upright as she laughed. Hinata was having a good time. It really was fun to tickle someone. Her smile faded a bit as she felt hands on her sides. The Hyuga girl paused for a moment and looked at Naruko.

"Don't think you can win that easily." Naruko grinned evilly as she began to tickle Hinata again. The two eventually ended up in an all-out tickle fight. Both were laughing and had on smiles that seemed to never want to leave their faces. Himeko waited outside the door with the girls' lunch. She had heard the laughing and peeked inside to see the two girls rolling about on the floor. A smile graced the woman's lips. She was glad her daughter had found such a good friend. Once she the laughter died down she opened the door and walked in.

"Hello girls. I've got your lunch." The two girls shot straight up from where they were lying together on the floor. Naruko had a 'hand caught in the cookie jar' kind of look on her face while Hinata had her head down to keep her mother from seeing her blush. She could feel the heat on her face rising even higher. Naruko was about to speak when she noticed the shy girl begin to sway. Hinata fell to the floor.

"Hinata!" Naruko was at her friend's side in an instant as Himeko made her way over to the two, placing the lunch down on the table as she passed it. Naruko looked at the woman and Himeko could see the panic in the girl's eyes. "What happened to her?" Himeko lifted Hinata's back with an arm as she placed the other on Naruko's shoulder.

"She's alright. She just fainted. She does that sometimes when she gets too flushed. She'll wake up in a few minutes." Naruko let out a sigh of relief as she looked back at her friend. Watching Hinata fall like that scared her more than anything else she had ever experienced before. She brought her hand up and rubbed Hinata cheek.

"Thank goodness." Himeko smiled at how much the girl cared for her daughter. She looked down as she felt Hinata stir. She leaned over and kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"Rise and shine sunflower. You gave Naruko quite the scare." Hinata sat up and looked between her mother and Naruko. The Hyuga girl started to blush again.

"I'm sorry Naruko." The red head leaned forward and hugged the girl.

"It's okay. I just didn't know what was going on. Now I know, so I won't panic if it happens again." Himeko had an image running through her head of Naruko picking up a fainted Hinata and carrying her away. The image put a smile on the woman's face.

"Alright you two get to eating before your lunch gets cold." The girls nodded and got up off the ground and headed to the table to eat. Himeko made it to the door before she stopped for minute and turned back around to look at the girls. They were already eating and Naruko was commenting how good the food was. "Naruko?" The red head made a noise of acknowledgement since her mouth was full. "How about you come by tomorrow as well? Maybe the two of you could go get dinner and then come back here for a sleep over?" Naruko's smile could light up a room.

"That sounds great Aunt Himeko! Does it sound okay to you Princess?" Hinata smiled a little with a blush on her face as she nodded. She liked her new nickname even if it was a bit embarrassing. Himeko was pleased.

"Okay. Be here by six tomorrow to pick up Hinata and be sure to be back by eight. I don't want you two being out too late." Both the girls nodded before Himeko turned to leave. Naruko and Hinata continued their meal after the woman left and they talked about all sorts of things. They both had a really good time.

-The Jolly Toad-

Jiraiya had walked into his favorite bar a few hours ago and was still nursing his first drink. Despite what people thought, the man did not go to bars to get drunk. Mostly he went to bars to think. That and to do research of course, but that was not is reason today. Something about the atmosphere always made him feel relaxed and calm. He could always clear his head at a bar and think things through. And he definitely needed to do some thinking that day. He was a failure. He had been neglecting his goddaughter and he had not even realized it. No. He had realized it. He just ignored it. He would not admit it, but he had not stopped mourning Minato's death. The man was like a son to him and the pain that Jiraiya had felt at the loss of the man had not lessened over the years. That pain made him blind to what was in front of him, a small girl who needed his help. Jiraiya's thoughts were interrupted when someone sat down across the table from him. The white haired man looked up.

"I need to do better sensei." Hiruzen nodded. It seemed that he did not need to talk to the man about Naruko after all. Maybe just give him a push in the right direction.

"I'm glad you realized that Jiraiya. Maybe you could use this as a wakeup call, to get up and move on with your life. Minato is dead and nothing you can do will change that. So why don't you do right by him by taking care of his daughter?" Jiraiya took the words to heart. He needed to move on, for Naruko's sake if not his own. He could not just keep leaving her in hotel rooms and letting her wander by herself, even if she could hold her own in a fight. He needed to shape up.

"Thank you sensei." Hiruzen smiled at his former student. He had a feeling things would work out. The Hokage pulled out a fresh bottle of sake to pour a glass for himself and refill Jiraiya's cup. The two spent the next few hours drinking and enjoying each other's company.

-Konoha Hotel-

Naruko had spent the rest of her day after leaving the Hyuga Compound exploring the village. She had gotten dinner at Ichiraku's again and then returned to the hotel to turn in early. Rika must have had the night off because she was not behind the counter and a middle aged man was standing in her place. Naruko figured that the man was Rika's father. The red head woke up in the morning looking forward to the day. She was glad she got to see Hinata for a third day in a row. All she had to do was figure out something to do until she had to go pick up the shy girl. Naruko got ready for the day and decided it was time for breakfast so she made her way to the door. She opened it and saw Jiraiya against the opposite wall. It looked like the man had spent the night there. Naruko found it kind of funny that the man had still yet to sleep in his room. The red head smiled a little and walked up to her gramps before soundly kicking him in the shin. Jiraiya let out a yelp and clutched his leg. He angrily looked around to see who had hit him. When his eyes landed on Naruko he seemed to calm down.

"Can we talk?" Naruko did not know what to say. The man looked serious, far more serious than she had ever seen him before. She wondered if it was because of what she said yesterday. After a few moments Naruko nodded her head and gestured for him to follow her as they went into her room. Jiraiya looked around. The suite seemed nice. Naruko took a seat on her bed and Jiraiya stayed standing. They locked eyes for a moment and Naruko sighed.

"What did you want to talk about?" Jiraiya took in a deep breath and lowered his head.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I've been a horrible godfather to you. I let your father's death affect me far more than it should have. I should have been there for you instead of just leaving you by yourself, but I couldn't bear being around you for too long. It just brought all my pain back. I was selfish. I should have worked though my pain to take care of you. I realize now that what I did was wrong. I wanted to ask if you could forgive me, if you could give me another chance. I'll change if I have to. I'm sorry." Jiraiya stopped and he heard the sound of someone crying. He looked up and saw Naruko nodding her head as she wiped tears from her eyes. The big man walked over to her and took her into a hug. Naruko wrapped her arms around the man's neck and cried into his shoulder.

"I forgive you. I forgive you." Naruko repeated those words over and over again. She was happy. Her Gramps had finally started to come around. A few tears ran down the man's face as he held is goddaughter, a smile on his lips.

"Thank you." Naruko stopped crying and nodded.

"You're welcome. And you don't even really need to change. Just spend some more time with me. That's all I really want." Jiraiya felt happy. For the first time in the last four years he felt truly happy.

"I can do that. Tell you what. Once we get back on the road again I'll start teaching how to be a proper ninja. I guarantee that by the time I'm finished with you you'll be a hundred times better than any of the academy graduates." Naruko had a huge grin on her face. She liked the sound of that. Then the red head heard a loud growl come from her Gramp's stomach. That set the two off laughing. Naruko shook her head as she looked at Jiraiya.

"Come on let's get some breakfast." The small girl took the big man's hand and they headed downstairs. The two had their breakfast together as they told jokes and Naruko talked about how she met Hinata. When they had finished Jiraiya took her on a tour of the village. He took her to his old training ground, his favorite hot spring, and even the Hokage Monument. It was almost five when Naruko finally realized that she still needed to get ready for the sleep over with Hinata.

"Gramps! I need to get back to the hotel! I'm sleeping over at Hinata's tonight and I'm supposed to be there by six. I'll see you tomorrow." Once the words were out of her mouth Naruko ran to the end of the Monument and leapt off the side. Jiraiya was stunned for a moment before he ran to the edge and looked over. His jaw dropped. The girl was sliding down the side of the Monument. He realized that she was using her chakra as a buffer between her shoes and the rock surface allowing her to just slide down the Monument with ease. If this was any indication of what she would be able to do once she was a trained ninja, her future looked very promising.

-Hyuga Compound-

Himeko was standing at the gates with Hinata's hand in her own and a worried look on her face. It was already six-thirty and she did not think Naruko would be late, especially when it involved her daughter. After just a few days the two already seemed like they grew up together by how attached they were to each other. The Hyuga woman was worried that something might have happened to the girl. What if someone found out she was a half-demon and they hurt her? She could not stand to think about that type of thing so she banished the thought from her head. Just as she was about to take Hinata back inside she saw someone round the corner down the street and run towards them. Himeko smiled as Naruko stopped a few feet in front of her and bent over breathing heavily. It was clear the girl had run all the way to the compound.

"I'm sorry I'm late. Gramps and I ended up spending the day together and I lost track of time. I was half way here when I realized that I didn't have anything ready for the sleep over so I had to run back to the hotel and then I ran all the way here." The girl was still trying to catch her breath and Himeko had to smile. Naruko was such an honest child.

"It's alright Naruko. All that matters is that you're here now. Isn't that right Hinata?" The shy girl nodded her head as she smiled at the other girl. Hinata let go of her mother's hand and walked up the other girl and wrapped her arms around the red head. Naruko was happy that she was forgiven and hugged Hinata back. Himeko was a bit surprised, she never saw her daughter be so bold before. Naruko really did seem to be good for her daughter. Hinata pulled away a little so she could look at Naruko.

"Hello Naruko." Naruko chuckled a little.

"Hi Hinata." The girls were beaming at each other and Himeko was beaming right along with them.

"So where are you two going to go eat?" Naruko turned to the Hyuga woman and grinned.

-Ichiraku Ramen-

Naruko had taken Hinata to the best place to eat in the entire world, as far as the red head was concerned anyway. They had walked hand in hand the entire way to the ramen shop while Naruko told Hinata about her day. The shy girl did not say much but that did not bother Naruko at all. The red head knew that Hinata may be quiet, but she was a good listener and Naruko could tell that the Hyuga girl liked her stories. Hinata always seemed to smile when Naruko told stories. The two reached the shop and saw Teuchi behind the counter.

"Hey Uncle Teuchi!" The man turned and smiled as he saw his favorite new customer.

"Hey there Naruko. Back again I see. Who's your friend?" The man was curious. He had never seen the blue haired girl around before.

"This is Hinata. She's my best friend!" Teuchi smiled as he saw the blush form on Hinata face.

"Well any friend of my best new customer is a friend of mine. Come have a seat. What do you want to try tonight?" Naruko looked up at the menu hanging above the counter. She had already tried Ichiraku's pork ramen last night and had the shio ramen the night before. She had a very serious look on her face as she turned to Hinata.

"I can't pick. What do you want Hinata?" The Hyuga girl looked away and down at the counter.

"I d-don't know. I've ne-never had ramen before." Naruko fell off of her stool.

"You've never had RAMEN before?!" What kind of sheltered life did Hinata live to never have had ramen before? It must have been a nightmare. Hinata was bright red as she shook her head. Teuchi took pity on the girl.

"Naruko a lot of kids your age haven't had ramen before. I didn't try ramen for the first time till I was five and my family owns this shop." Naruko looked at the man stunned. She took a moment to recover before she looked back at Hinata.

"I'm sorry for shouting Hinata. I guess I always just assumed that everyone had tried ramen before." Hinata looked at the red head and saw her scratching the back of her head with an apologetic look on her face. Hinata smiled.

"It's okay Naruko. I understand." Naruko smiled back at Hinata and took her seat again. Teuchi was happy that the girls bounced back so quickly. Sometimes little girls could let the smallest things ruin a friendship.

"Alright Naruko, since you don't know what to order and Hinata has never had ramen before how about I cook up the house special?" The two girls nodded and he went to work on making two orders of the house special. As he worked he heard Naruko chatting away. The other girl did not seem to be talking much so he wondered if she was not having a good time, but every time he looked over his shoulder the blue haired girl was smiling. He guessed that that was just how they were. Naruko did the talking and Hinata did the listening. Whatever worked, right? As he handed the order to the two girls he noticed his daughter approaching.

"Hey Ayame. Did you get those eggs I wanted?" The girls at the counter stopped eating and turned to look behind them. Ayame was walking towards them with some bags in her hands. Ayame looked to be a few years older than the girls. She reached the counter and put the bags down.

"Yeah dad I did. I also got the pork from the butcher you like." Teuchi smiled. His favorite butcher had the best pork available.

"Thanks Ayame. Oh these are two are Naruko and Hinata. Naruko is the girl I was telling you about." Naruko waved at the girl while Hinata bowed her head. Ayame waved back.

"It's nice to meet you both. Like my father mentioned I'm Ayame. Naruko, dad tells me you really like our ramen." Naruko grinned and nodded.

"Yeah it's great! You're so lucky this place is going to be yours someday." Naruko thought that Ayame was the luckiest girl in the world. Ayame sigh and had a resigned look on her face.

"I guess. I like cooking, but I don't know if I want to spend the rest of my life making ramen." Naruko looked stricken. How could anyone not want to own a ramen shop? Teuchi let out a sigh.

"I know sweetie and once your older and I have some more help around here you can go travel like you want to." Teuchi knew that his daughter wanted to travel and he would not be the one to hold her back. Naruko looked at Ayame for a moment.

"Ayame if you don't want to run this place you can give it to me. I'll take really good care of it." Ayame and her father laughed at the statement. The girl really did love ramen. The four chatted for a while longer before Ayame went inside with the groceries, after she left Hinata and Naruko finished up there ramen before heading back to the Compound.

-Hyuga Compound-

The girls made it back to the compound just before eight as requested by Himeko and the woman met them at the gate. She led them inside and escorted them to Hinata's room. Himeko also showed Naruko where the closest bathroom was. Naruko thanked the woman and bowed as she left. The girls decided to take turns in the bath and get ready for bed. Naruko got the bath first then Hinata. The red head had some loose fitting clothes on as she looked around the girl's room. There was a big king sized bed centered against a wall facing a big TV that had windows on either side. There were a bunch of cushions laid out in front of the TV along with a VCR on top of some shelves full of movies. There was also a door that led to a walk in closet and a large book shelf that lined the remaining wall. All in all it was a very nice room. Naruko turned to look at the door as she heard it open and saw Hinata walk in.

"Hey Princess. You look really pretty." Hinata stopped and fiddled with her night gown. It was one of her nicer ones that her mother had given her as a gift.

"T-thank you Na-naruko, you l-look pretty t-too." The red head reddened a little and waved her hand back and forth as if to dismiss the notion.

"No I don't I'm just wearing some old clothes. Yours are all nice and fancy." Hinata walked up to the girl and took her hand.

"I think you look pretty in anything." Naruko's got even redder. She was not used to being complimented. It usually embarrassed her but it felt nice hearing it come from Hinata. Naruko looked down at her feet.

"Thanks Hinata." Hinata had a smile on her face. She was surprised that Naruko could get embarrassed like she could. The red head always seemed so self-assured.

"You're welcome Naru." Naruko looked back up at Hinata and smiled brightly at the girl. Hinata had given her a nickname. Hinata had given her a nickname! Naruko was bouncing up and down a little in excitement before hugging the girl.

"You're the best Princess!" The Hyuga girl hugged Naruko back. The two stayed that way for a moment before they separated and Naruko turned towards the TV.

"Want to watch a movie?" Hinata nodded and the two girls went in search of a movie to watch. They picked out a comedy and sat down to watch it. They both laughed a lot and enjoyed the movie immensely. An action movie was put on next and Naruko was excitedly pointing out all the different moves in the fight scenes. Hinata found more entertainment in Naruko's reenactment than the actual movie. The Hyuga girl pulled out her favorite romance movie and the girls snuggled close together as they watched the two lovers overcome adversity. It had gotten late so Himeko decided to check on the girls. She peeked in to find credits rolling on the TV and the two girls asleep cuddled up together on the cushions. The woman smiled at the sight and walked into the room. She shut the TV off before she bent down and picked up the two girls so she could put them to bed. Once she tucked them in she kissed both girls on the top of the head and moved towards the door.

"Good night girls. Pleasant dreams." With that she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Naruko and Hinata cuddled together as sweet dreams played through their heads.

**A/N: And that's Chapter 4, I hope you all enjoyed it. I just want to let you all know that from now on I'll be updating every other week on Wednesday. My internship is taking up a bit of my time and I am also looking for a part-time job as well, so to avoid falling behind I'm using the two weeks as a buffer to write so this thing keeps on going. Look forward to the next chapter. Things will get a bit more serious. **


	5. Before Bad Days

**A/N: A bit earlier than planned, but I think you all won't mind that. I actually managed to get a few chapters finished so I'll be posting them on a regular basis until I run out. Yes this chapter title plays off of the previous one. This is a more serious, but still has some tender moments. I hope you all enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Text examples:

"**Hello." **Biju or jinchuriki using biju's powers speaking

'Hi.' Person thinking

'_Hi there.'_ Person speaking through mental link

'**Howdy.' **Biju speaking through mental link

Chapter 5: Before Bad Days

Hinata awoke from a very pleasant dream that she could not quite remember. She thought it involved Naruko somehow since she remembered red hair, but for some reason she felt foxes were there too. It was some kind of big ceremony. Other than that all she had was a happy feeling about the dream. The Hyuga girl opened her eyes to see someone's face right in front of her. She almost panicked before she realized it was Naruko. Memories from the previous night came back to her and she smiled at the sleeping red head. They were sharing the same pillow. Naruko had her arms wrapped around Hinata's waist and their legs were tangled together. Hinata brought up her hand and stroked Naruko's hair. After a few moments of this the red head snuggled closer to Hinata and rubbed her cheek against the Hyuga girl's jaw letting out a small noise of affection. Hinata giggled a little at the sound. Naruko finally opened her eyes.

"Mmm, morning Princess." The red head moved a bit to rub her cheek against Hinata's. Hinata returned the gesture in kind.

"Good morning Naru. How did you sleep?" Naruko pulled away a little and looked into her friend's eyes. They really were as white as snow.

"I slept great! How about you?" Hinata sat up on her bed so she could stretch and then looked down at her friend.

"I slept well thank you." The two smiled at each other and then heard a knock on the door before Himeko entered.

"Oh good, you're both up. I was just coming to wake you." Himeko was glad the girls were up already. She would have felt bad if she had to wake them. Hinata got off the bed first and went over to hug her mother.

"Good morning mother." Himeko smiled as she heard another statement without any stuttering. Naruko was a miracle worker and the girl did not even know it. The red head got off the bed and walked in front of Himeko before she bowed.

"Good morning Aunt Himeko." The Hyuga woman kneeled down and took both girls into her arms.

"Good morning girls. I trust you both slept well?" She pulled back a little and both girls nodded their heads. "Excellent! I'm glad to hear it. Now why don't you both get changed and come have breakfast with me?" More nods were given as the girls separated from the woman. Hinata went into her walk in closet and closed the door behind her as Naruko went over to her bag in the corner to get some clothes. She pulled out her favorite orange shirt and a pair of shorts. As Hinata came out of the closet Naruko walked in to get changed. In a few minutes both girls were dressed and ready to go. Hinata looked up at her mother.

"W-will f-father be j-joining us?" Himeko frowned a little. It seemed that not even Naruko could free Hinata of her stutter when her father was involved. Himeko loved her husband, but he was still very strict with Hinata. He treated her more like a small person than a child. His behavior resulted in Hinata acting very anxious around the man.

"No Sunflower. He had a meeting to go to this morning with the elders and the other members of the main family. I will be joining him after breakfast." Hinata let out a small sigh of relief. She loved her father but sometimes she was not sure if he loved her back. This always made Hinata nervous around the man. Naruko looked between the two wondering if she missed something, then her stomach growled loudly and all the tension left the room. She laughed a little and rubbed the back of her head.

"So breakfast?" Himeko and Hinata both giggled at the girl. Himeko turned and led them to the same room where Hinata and Naruko had eaten lunch the other day. The three kneeled down on the cushions and food was shortly brought out for them. They chatted lightly as they enjoyed their meal. Hinata was noticeably quieter than the other two, but she still contributed to the conversation and had a smile on her face throughout the meal. When they were all finished Himeko excused herself so she could go to the meeting. Hinata and Naruko made their way back to Hinata's room. Once there Naruko looked around the room quickly.

"So Princess? What do you want to do now?" Hinata thought for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders. Normally at this time she had lessons, but her mother has changed her schedule so she could spend more time with her new friend. Naruko thought for a moment then snapped her fingers as she got an idea. "How about we spar?" Hinata paled a little.

"Spar?" She did not like the sound of the idea. She did not want to hurt Naruko or be hurt by her either. Naruko nodded her head vigorously.

"Yeah it'll be fun!" The red head sounded very enthusiastic about the idea but Hinata was still skeptical.

"I don't want either of us to get hurt though." Naruko looked into the girl's snow white eyes and gave her a smile.

"We won't hurt each other. We're just sparring not fighting." Hinata looked down at the ground.

"But father says that I must treat every engagement as if it were actual combat, to defeat my enemy by disabling or killing them." The words sounded forced, almost like she had practiced saying them over and over again. Naruko walked up to Hinata and embraced her.

"Hey now, it doesn't have to be like that. Sparring can be fun. Almost like play fighting. We aim to just miss hitting each other and go back and forth, kind of like taking turns. We can watch each other and point out good things and help work out bad points. It can be fun, I promise." Hinata wrapped her arms around Naruko as she nodded. What the red head had described sounded so much better than the sparring her father had her do, this actually sounded fun. The two separated and Naruko took Hinata's hand as they walked out of the room. Hinata took the lead from there and guided Naruko to one of the empty training grounds that the main family had access to. They separated as they got in the ring. Naruko looked at her new friend and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Ready?" Hinata nodded and got into the Gentle Fist stance. Naruko spread her legs apart and raised her arms with her fingers spread wide, almost like she had claws. The two raced towards each other at the same time as if there had been some kind of unseen signal. They meet in the middle of the ring and began trading blows. After a few exchanges Hinata realized that Naruko was pulling her strikes at the last second so that only her nails grazed against Hinata's clothes lightly, just enough force to be felt, but not enough to cause pain. The blue haired girl followed Naruko's example and soon she was smiling realizing that it was more like they were dancing than sparing. The red head returned Hinata's smile with one of her own. She was glad Hinata seemed to be having fun. The Hyuga girl was enjoying herself greatly. She did not have to worry about being hurt by anyone or hurting anyone in return. She could just move with Naruko and enjoy the movement. She began to try things out to see what would happen. Sometimes she was met with a light counter hit other times she landed a light blow on the red head. As she got more into it she started aiming for Naruko's chakra points, but did not put enough pressure into the strikes to cause any damage. She performed a number of strikes in rapid succession and was pleased that they all mad contact. Hinata did not know it, but she had just performed the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms. A technique she had not even been taught yet. It just felt like the right thing to do at the time. After about an hour the two finally stopped and collapsed onto the ring floor. They were breathing heavily but had huge smiles on their faces. Naruko got up first and walked over to Hinata. The red head stuck her hand out for Hinata to take.

"I told you it could be fun." Hinata smiled up at the girl before she took hold of the out stretched hand and was lifted to her feet.

"I believe you now. It really was fun, almost like we were dancing." Naruko nodded her head as she led Hinata back inside the building, all the while still holding the Hyuga girl's hand. Neither of them noticed the strange man that had been watching them.

-Hinata's Room-

The girls had made their way slowly back to Hinata's room. They were both quite tired and were leaning on each other for support. On their way to the room they past a servant and Hinata asked him to send some lunch to her room. When the girls made it inside they headed for the bed to take a nap. After a couple of hours there was a knock on the door and the two girls woke up. An elderly Hyuga woman walked in with a tray covered in food with a pot of tea as well. She greeted the girls as she placed their food down on the nightstand and then exited the room. Naruko walked up to the food first.

"Alright! Fish!" Naruko loved fish, almost as much as she loved chicken and beef and pork and veal and venison and turkey. Well she loved all meats really, except for fox of course. The red head took a plate and placed some of the fish as well as some rice on it. She walked over to Hinata, who was still on the bed, and handed if the Hyuga girl. Hinata was a bit surprised at how courteous Naruko was being by serving her first, but she got over it quickly and accepted the plate with a smile. The red head went back to the night stand and put some food on the other plate. She then sat down next to Hinata and the two began to eat. After a few mouthfuls Naruko looked over at Hinata.

"So Princess? What do you want to do after lunch?" Hinata stopped eating for a moment to think about the question.

"I'm tired so I don't want to run around too much, but I don't want to sit around either. I think I might fall asleep again." Naruko took in what Hinata said and thought for a moment before she snapped her fingers.

"How about we play hide and seek? I can hide and you can come find me. We don't have to have the chase rule. If you find me you win or you give up and I win. Sound okay?" Hinata smiled a little. It did sound like a good idea. The blue haired girl nodded and Naruko did a little bounce where she was sitting. "Awesome! I'll go hide and you have to count to one hundred before you can come looking for me." With that Naruko was out the door and making her way down the hall. Hinata giggled a little at her friend's enthusiasm. She started counting to herself aloud. She got to sixty-two when she felt a sharp blow to the back of her head and she lost consciousness.

-Somewhere in the Hyuga Compound-

Naruko was proud of herself. She had found the best hiding spot in the entire Compound. The red head was in a hole underneath one of the buildings. She saw the hole as she was wandering and managed to widen it enough to fit inside. She found it strange how easy and natural it felt to dig a hole to hide in. Kurama had to laugh.

'**Kit, all foxes can dig holes, it is second nature to them. They need to dig holes to make dens. Even the Palace is underground.'** Naruko thought for a moment. She had no idea that the Fox Palace was underground.

'_Dad, that sounds awesome! An entire palace underground, how does that even work?"_ Kurama was glad that his kit was taking an interest in the palace. He and Aika had both tried in the past to tell her about the Fox Court, but neither of them had gotten very far.

'**Well kit the Palace exists beneath the Great Forest of the Demon realm. The trees there are massive and their roots are just as big. The elders of the Fox Clan manipulated the roots and made a giant cavern underground that could be accessed by tunnels hidden beneath the trees. In the cavern they built the palace and the surrounding village. They even came up with the idea of making hollow trees so that light and rain could be brought done to the cavern. It is a marvelous place Naruko.'** The red head was amazed with the description that Kurama had given her. It sounded fantastic and it definitely made her list of places she wanted to visit.

'_Dad can I go there? Please? Please? Please please please?"_ Kurama chuckled and grinned to himself.

'**You can when you're older kit. It can be a dangerous place, especially for a half demon.'** Kurama knew that some of the older families were prejudiced against half breeds and made it their mission to see that they never set foot in the palace. Naruko became solemn as she realized that the demon realm could be just as bad of a place for a half-demon as the mortal realm could be. It seemed that hatred existed everywhere. Naruko knew she was lucky to have so many people who accepted her for who she was. She still hoped that one more person would accept her though.

'_Kurama? Do you think Hinata would hate me if she knew I was a half-demon?'_ Kurama smiled in his forest.

'**No kit. I don't think she would hate you. In fact I'm sure that you being a half demon won't change anything between you two. Speaking of Hinata, where is she? With her Byakugan I would have thought she would have found you by now.'** Naruko realized that it was strange. With the Byakugan's three hundred sixty degree view Hinata should have found her right away, especially since it allowed her to see chakra networks.

'_She could just be playing fair, but I still think I should go look for her. She said she was tired so she could have gone to sleep.'_ Naruko dug her way out of her hiding place and began to search the compound. After about fifteen minutes of searching the red head began to panic.

'**Calm down Naruko. You know her scent. Just use your nose.'** Naruko nodded as she closed her eyes and began to sniff the air. Lilacs. She found the smell and began to follow it. It was strongest in Hinata's room, which was not surprising. What was surprising was a scent trail that led out through the window. Naruko almost dismissed it as being from the night Hinata snuck out to get a present for Himeko, but then she noticed it was not latched shut. Naruko bolted for the window and opened it to follow the trail. She followed it up the wall that was around the compound and onto a nearby rooftop. The red head went from rooftop to rooftop as she followed the scent of lilacs all the way to the wall that surrounded the village. She got closer to the wall and found a small hole at the base of it that was covered over by some garbage. Naruko got worried.

"This doesn't look good." Naruko bit her thumb and preformed the hand signs for the fox summoning jutsu. There was a cloud of smoke as her hand hit the ground and a black and orange fox with two tails bowed before Naruko.

"Lady Naruko, how may I help you?" Naruko motioned for the fox to rise. She was glad that he respected her, but she could do without all the bowing.

"Isamu, I need you to track down Jiraiya and tell him that Hinata seems to have been kidnapped and taken out of the village. I want you to stay with him and lead him back here. Hinata's scent is like lilacs. When you get back here pick up her trail and lead him to us. Now go!" Isamu was off in a flash. He was not considered to be the best messenger fox in the demon realm for no reason and he only worked for those he liked. Once Isamu was gone Naruko entered the tunnel and made her way under the wall to the forest outside.

-The Jolly Toad-

Jiraiya had entered The Jolly Toad around noon to get some lunch and have some sake while he thought about how best to go about training Naruko. She had already showed promise in taijutsu as well as chakra manipulation. He could help her with both, but he would have to defer to Kurama for taijutsu most of the time since the white haired man did not know how a half fox demon should fight. Naruko could already summon so he did not have to worry about that. Given her chakra levels were so high it was safe to assume that regular clones would just be over loaded so he would have to teach her a more advanced one. Shadow clones would probably be the best bet since he did not have to worry about what nature chakra she had in order to teach it. Jiraiya had just started to map out the first few weeks of training in his head when a fox came running into the bar. He recognized the fox as Isamu and was about to ask why the fox was here when Isamu bit down on his leg and started to pull him towards the door.

"Ow! Dammit Isamu! What the hell are you doing?!" Isamu stopped as he dropped the man's leg and turned to bow towards the man.

"My apologies Jiraiya. I had thought you were intoxicated since you were in a drinking establishment." Isamu had figured that the man was drunk so he decided the best way to get Jiraiya to where he was told to lead the man was to drag him there. Jiraiya had a scowl on his face as her stood up and looked down at the fox.

"It's alright I guess. Just why were you trying to drag me away in the first place?" Isamu stood up and looked Jiraiya right in the eyes.

"Lady Naruko has instructed me to tell you that Lady Hinata has been kidnapped and that she is in pursuit of them now. I am to take you to her last location and pick up the trail there." Jiraiya was shocked at the news. Hinata had been kidnapped? It did not seem possible, but then he realized that the Hyuga main family was attending a meeting with the Hokage to discuss peace matters with Kumo. It made sense. Kumo had these peace talks arranged so they could get the Hyuga main branch away from the compound and get one of their ninja inside and capture Hinata. He needed to find Hiashi.

"Isamu we need to make a stop first!" Jiraiya charged out of the bar with Isamu right on his heels. They were headed to the Hokage mansion.

-Konoha Forest-

Naruko was starting to get worried. She had run for the last hour as she followed the scent and she still had not caught up with Hinata and her kidnapper. Whoever he was he must have been extremely skilled to outdistance her so much in her natural habitat. It was downright insulting for a fox to be outrun in a forest. Kurama could agree, but he also agreed that the man must be very skilled, obviously a trained ninja of at least chunin level.

'**Kit, be careful. I know you are in a rush, but you could run head first into a trap if you aren't paying attention.'** Naruko slowed her pace a bit after her Dad's advice sunk in. She stretched her senses to the limit and began to absorb as much information as she could. How high she was, which way the wind was blowing, how far away from the village she was, and where traps could be hidden or enemies lying in wait. It was almost like the world opened itself to her examination. She wondered if this is how it felt to be an actual fox. The thought left her quickly as she noticed she was approaching a small clearing. Naruko slowed her advance even more and began to detect the smell of lilacs fresh on the breeze. As she approached she saw Hinata tied and beaten on the ground. She would swear she saw red. The fox girl tore from her hiding spot not even hearing Kurama's warning. Her demonic chakra was flaring and she felt a bolt of power run down her spine. She had not realized it but her transformation had dropped and she started to grow a second tail.

Naruko reached Hinata in a flash and found the girl barely conscious. The Hyuga girl's left eye was swollen shut. Her lip was torn open and bleeding. Bruises were already starting to form all over her body. Naruko was crying in pain for her friend while she gritted her teeth in anger. She was going to make whoever did this pay. The red head got Hinata into a sitting position and began to undo the ropes on her hands when Naruko heard a twig snap behind her. She turned to find a groundhog running off into the brush. She faced Hinata again and received a heavy blow to her head that sent her tumbling backwards. When she righted herself she saw a ninja standing near Hinata. Kurama did not like the feel the man was giving off. He seemed like the type who enjoyed hurting others.

'**Don't underestimate him Naruko. He's powerful.'** Naruko nodded as she registered the advice. She took her stance. Feet apart, arms up, and fingers spread. She was quite the sight for anyone who would look at her. Her ears were pointed straight up and seemed rigid. The two tails were back and out of the way. Her canines were on open display along with her claw like nails. They had lengthened when she grew her second tail. With a very fox like roar she charged the man ready to rip his throat out with her teeth if she had to. She was promptly smacked to the ground by a back handed slap from the ninja. Naruko then felt something impact her stomach forcefully and she let out a yelp from the pain. She would have been done for when the ninja tried to stomp her head into the ground but Kurama got Naruko moving and back on her feet. The two glared at each other before trading blows. Naruko's strikes were light and fast but her nails cut deep. It did not seem to be doing much to the ninja though. He was shrugging off every hit she landed and returning them with punches that were at least three times stronger. It was not long before Naruko began to lose focus. Her wounds were taking a toll on her and she was having trouble breathing. The man closed in to finish her off. Naruko watched as he slowly walked up to her and drew a kunai from his belt. He grabbed her by her hair and lifted her into the air as he held the blade to her throat. She stared right into his eyes. She wanted him to remember her, to remember the girl who was about to change his life forever. With the last of her strength Naruko delivered a swift powerful kick to the man's groin. The man dropped her and Naruko landed on her feet. The red head had a triumphant smile on her face as she watched the man teeter backwards and fall flat on his ass. She could not help but laugh as she dropped to her knees. The ninja looked at her from his place on the ground.

"You little bitch! I'll make you pay for that!" The man got back on his feet and rushed towards the red head only for a red and white mass to block his path and send him spinning right into a nearby tree. Naruko looked up at her white haired savor and smiled when she realized who it was.

"Took you long enough Gramps. Did I soften him up enough for you?" Jiraiya turned and just smiled at his goddaughter despite her injuries. She really was a brat sometimes. The white haired man bent down and picked up the red head.

"Yeah you did Naruko. You made it real easy for me and Hiashi to come get you two. And don't worry about reinforcements. We already took care of those." Naruko looked over at the tree that Hinata was under. A man with long brown hair that Naruko could only assume was Hinata's father had picked up the girl and was carrying her in his arms. They made their way towards the other pair and Naruko got good look at Hinata's wounds.

"Is she going to be okay?" Hiashi looked up from his daughter to the half-demon being cradled in Jiraiya's arms. He did not like their kind.

"Such matters should not concern a half-breed, but yes she will be fine once she gets medical attention." Naruko nodded to herself. She did not care about the disdain she heard in this voice or the look of pity in his eyes. All she cared about was that her friend was going to be okay.

"Good." The red head noticed that Hinata had passed out and she decided that the other girl had the right idea.

-Konoha Hospital-

Hinata had awoken some time ago, but she had not opened her eyes yet. She did not want to. She just wanted to enjoy the pleasant darkness that was surrounding her. There was no pain there, just nothingness. It was not long though before she heard a door open and close.

"How is she?" It was her mother. She sounded concerned.

"She is stable. You're lucky you got her here when you did. That broken rib could have been a real problem if it shifted and hit her lung. That little fox girl really came through for her by finding her so fast." It was an unfamiliar voice. It was definitely a man though.

"Her involvement did not matter. I would have found her anyway." That voice was a familiar one. It was Hiashi, her father.

"Hiashi don't you dare! Naruko risked herself not only once but twice to save Hinata. The first time she didn't even know her. Hinata was a stranger on the street who was being picked on by bullies and Naruko came to her rescue. And then again today she chased after the kidnapper and fought him to try and save Hinata. The girl fought a jonin Hiashi. A jonin! And even more amazingly she survived. If it wasn't for Naruko our daughter could be on her way to Kumo right now or, Kami forbid, dead. So tell me Hiashi how her involvement does not matter?" Hinata was surprised. She had never heard her mother speak to her father that way before. There was a long pause after Himeko finished her rant.

"I suppose you're right. The half-demon did help in returning Hinata to use so I should be more grateful to her. I apologize for my behavior." Hinata thought that she was dreaming. Her father never apologized to anyone.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Naruko. You wouldn't even let her come in with us to check on Hinata. And another thing, her name is Naruko Uzumaki, not half-demon." Hinata was sure of it. She was definitely dreaming.

"Very well." Hinata heard the door open and close again and decided now would be a good time to wake up. She opened her eyes and tried to sit up but a sharp pain shot through her chest and she let out a cry. The two left in the room were at her side in a second. The doctor ran some chakra through his hands and began to relieve Hinata's pain. Himeko took her daughter's hand while she stroked the young girl's hair.

"Hey Sunflower, how are you feeling?" Hinata opened her mouth to respond but instead let out a cough. Her mother handed her a cup and the Hyuga girl took a drink.

"It h-hurts, but n-not as bad as b-before." Himeko frowned. The stuttering was back. She hoped Naruko could relieve her daughter of that burden permanently someday.

"That's good Hinata. You should be able to get out of here in a few days." Hinata smiled a little at the news, glad that she did not have to stay in the room for long. Her thoughts quickly turned to a certain red head that had come to her rescue.

"Where's Naruko? Is she okay?" Himeko smiled and nodded.

-Outside Hinata's Hospital Room-

Naruko was sad and mad and relieved all at the same time. She was sad because she was not allowed to see Hinata. She was mad at the people who gave her dirty looks while they past her. The red head had not bothered to preform her transformation again. And most of all she was relieved that they got Hinata to the hospital fast enough and the girl was going to be okay. Naruko did not even give a thought to her own wounds. They were already almost healed. She had her demonic chakra and Uzumaki blood to thank for that, both afforded her amazing regenerative abilities. One of the doctor's had even asked if he could take a blood sample for research. Naruko flat out refused. She did not want anyone messing with her blood. The fox girl's ears perked up as she heard the door next to her open. She turned and saw Hiashi step out of the room. She let out a little growl and stared daggers at the man. Hiashi sighed. He knew he deserved the treatment for how he acted before.

"Naruko." The red head was surprised that the man even knew her name. "I am sorry for how I treated you before. Himeko has told me of how you met our daughter. It has been made clear to me that you are a good friend to my daughter despite your heritage. You helped save my daughter and for that I am in your debt. You may have anything you desire, just name it. Money. Land. Influence. Any of it can be yours." Naruko just shook her head slowly.

"I don't want any of that. I just was to see Hinata." Naruko was crying a little. She was not sure why, it was just painful being away from Hinata when she knew the Hyuga girl was hurt. Hiashi was humbled by the response. He had just bared the entirety of the Hyuga wealth and power at this girl's feet and she turned all of it away just to see his daughter. He did not know people like that still existed. Even children had things that they wanted, but all she wanted was to be with her friend. So he did the only thing he could do. He stepped aside and opened the door for Naruko as he gestured for her to go inside.

"Hinata!" The Hyuga girl looked away from her mother and saw Naruko race to her side. The red head was crying as she took hold of Hinata's arm and clutched it tightly. Hinata began to rub the girl's head and scratch behind her ears. Naruko looked adorable with her fox ears. Himeko smiled a little at the scene and decided to take her leave.

"I'll let you two have some privacy." She stood and motioned for the doctor to follow her out of the room. Naruko finally looked up at Hinata, tears still running done her face.

"I'm sorry Hinata. I'm sorry for everything. If I hadn't suggested hide and seek we would have been together when he tried to take you and I could have fought him off. I'm sorry I didn't realize sooner that you were gone. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you I was a half-demon. I also want you to know that I'm the jinchuriki for the Kyubi. He isn't as bad as everyone makes him out to be. He helped raise me and he is kind of like my dad. I was so afraid that you would hate me and wouldn't want to be my friend anymore so I didn't tell you. I'm sorry. Please don't hate me." Naruko was still crying as she felt a hand lift her chin. She looked up to see Hinata smiling at her.

"Naruko, how could I ever hate you for being who you are? You're the same girl that came to my rescue a week ago. You were just as much a half-demon then as you are now. So nothing has really changed." Hinata smiled brightly as she leaned forward and hugged the red head. Naruko was still crying, but this time they were tears of joy. Hinata really did give the best hugs. She was not going to lose her friend today and she hoped that she would never lose Hinata. Naruko climbed into the hospital bed with Hinata and the two spent the rest of the day sleeping.

-Konoha Gates-

A week had passed since the kidnapping and Naruko had visited Hinata every day at the hospital without fail, only returning to the hotel to sleep and clean up. They never seemed to run out of things to talk about, but sometimes they stopped and played bored games with Himeko, Jiraiya, or even the Hokage when he came to visit. It was the day after Hinata was released from the hospital that Jiraiya decided it was time to get back on the road. Naruko did not want to but she knew that she had to. Jiraiya said that he was going to start her ninja training and if she wanted that she had to go with him. She was walking towards the gate, but got a strange felling in the pit of her stomach. She stopped and waited. A smile appeared on the red head's face when she caught the scent of lilacs on the wind. Naruko turned and saw Hinata running towards her as fast as she could. Naruko opened up her arms and enveloped her friend in a hug when the Hyuga girl reached her. Hinata was breathing heavily in Naruko's arms and the red head could tell she was still in pain.

"You shouldn't have run. You're still hurt." Hinata nodded her head in agreement as she pulled away a little to look at Naruko's face.

"I know, but I had to see you one last time before you left." Naruko smiled and pulled the girl close to her again as she rubbed the blue haired girl's back.

"And I'm grateful. You have no idea how much it means to me that you came to see me off. You're my best friend Hinata and I promise that that will never change. This isn't really a goodbye, just a see you later. I'll be back, I promise. And when I'm not here I'll write you letters. You'll get so many letters that you'll get sick of them." Hinata giggled at the thought. She did not think she could ever get sick of getting anything from Naruko.

"I'll read every letter and treasure each one." Naruko smiled brightly and pulled back to look into Hinata's eyes.

"I'll see you later Princess." Hinata smiled. She really loved the name Naruko had given her.

"I'll see you soon Naru." Naruko thought for a moment before throwing caution to the wind and leaned in to plant a quick kiss on Hinata's cheek. The Hyuga girl went wide eyed with a blush on her face and promptly fainted on the spot. Naruko was still holding her so the girl did not fall to the ground. The red head chuckled and shook her head. She was getting used to Hinata's fainting already. Naruko felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Himeko standing next to her. The woman bent over and took Hinata in her arms. She smiled down at the other girl and rubbed Naruko's head with her free hand. Naruko let out a happy noise.

"You really look much better with the fox ears Naruko, you shouldn't have to hide. And I know Hinata would agree with me." Now it was Naruko's turn to blush. She had performed the transformation before she left the hotel that morning. Maybe she would not use the technique the next time she came to the village at least when she was in the Hyuga Compound anyway. Naruko turned to the woman and bowed deeply.

"Thank you for everything Aunt Himeko. It means a lot to me. And thank Hinata for being my friend for me when she wakes up. I would do it myself, but I can tell Gramps is getting annoyed that we haven't left yet." Himeko turned her head and saw Jiraiya standing just outside the gate tapping his foot. He did seem a bit annoyed.

"You're welcome Naruko and I'll do that. I really should be the one thanking you though. You have done so much for my daughter. More than you even realize and for that I am forever grateful." Himeko bowed her head and would have done a proper bow if Hinata was not in her arms. Naruko returned the bow and waved as she ran off after Jiraiya. They walked off down the road. Hinata woke up shortly after they were no longer in sight.

"What happened?" Himeko smiled at her daughter and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"You fainted when Naruko kissed you." Hinata's blush came back in full force at what her mother said.

"Was she upset?" The woman shook her head as she turned to head back to the Compound.

"No Sunflower, quite the opposite really, she seemed content. In fact when you fainted she held you tightly in her arms to keep you from falling." If Hinata's blush could get any redder it would have and she had to fight from fainting again.

"She's really nice. I can't wait for her to come back again." Himeko smiled at the idea.

"Neither can I Hinata." Himeko wanted the red head back as soon as possible. The red head did wonders for her daughter.

**A/N: I hope you all liked how I handled the kidnapping attempt. The next chapter should be up in the next week or so, I still have some things I want to edit. Until then. As always please review, it makes doing this even more worthwhile.**


	6. Through the Years

**A/N: Sorry for the wait. Been busy lately. P.S. Don't hate me.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Text examples:

"**Hello." **Biju or jinchuriki using biju's powers speaking

'Hi.' Person thinking

'_Hi there.'_ Person speaking through mental link

'**Howdy.' **Biju speaking through mental link

Chapter 6: Through the Years

-Age 5-

It had already been a year since Naruko and Jiraiya had left the village and the red head was glad that they were finally heading back. Not that her year was bad, though. It was great really. Jiraiya had started her ninja training and she was actually learning some cool stuff between all the history lessons about the village and other boring subjects. He said that she would be ready for the genin test in no time. But in all their travelling she never really had a chance to make many friends, not like she did at Konoha. She had friends there, Rika, Aunt Himeko, and especially Hinata. Naruko missed the Hyuga girl most of all. She had sent letters to Hinata throughout the year, but she could never get any letters in return. Jiraiya never told her where they were going next so Naruko could not tell Hinata where to send letters to, but that did not matter to the fox girl at the moment because she was in sight of the gates outside the village. She took off running.

-Hyuga Compound-

Hinata was in her room rereading the last letter she had gotten from Naruko. It had arrived a week ago and said that Hinata could expect a surprise coming for her within the week. Hinata was excited, she had gotten small gifts from Naruko before, like a card on her birthday and some money at Christmas, but the red head had never informed the girl of the presents beforehand so the Hyuga girl could not help but feel that this one was special. She had a sad smile on her face as she thought about the fox girl. Hinata missed her best friend, sure she knew a few other clan heirs, but she never connected with them as much as she had with Naruko. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on the door. She got up off her bed and opened the door. All she saw was a flash of red before she was tackled to the ground.

"Hey Princess!" Hinata was shocked. Her best friend had just appeared at her door and was now sprawled out on top of her hugging her tightly. Hinata had a blush on her face as she found her voice.

"Naruko?! What? How are you here?" The red head got off the Hyuga girl so she was sitting on the floor next to her. Hinata sat up and faced Naruko. The blue haired girl was a bit sad when she realized that her friend had transformed to hide her fox features. She wished the fox girl did not have to hide her true self. Naruko was laughing a little and had a huge smile on her face.

"Didn't you get my letter? I said you would be getting a surprise the next time you heard from me. So, surprise!" The fox girl took Hinata into a hug again that the Hyuga girl readily returned. Naruko coming for a visit was her surprise? Hinata smiled broadly as she realized that that was what Naruko meant by surprise. It was the best surprise Hinata had ever gotten. She was very happy until she realized something.

"I'm so glad you're here Naru, but I have lessons this afternoon." The blue haired girl pulled away a little to look at her friend and was surprised to see Naruko's grin still in place and the girl shaking her head.

"No you don't princess. I already talked to your mom and she cleared your schedule. You're free the rest of the day. So let's not waste any more of it." The fox girl got up pulling Hinata with her and ran out of the room.

-Ichiraku Ramen-

The two friends had made their way to the ramen shop hand in hand while Hinata told Naruko about the things she had missed in the last year. She told the fox girl of the festivals in the village, the parties at the Hyuga Compound, and spending time with her mother. Naruko smiled throughout the account. When they got to the shop Naruko noticed a man already seated at the counter. He had tanned skin and a scar across his nose and face. The last thing Naruko noticed sent her eyes wide.

"Is that a Konoha headband?" The man turned as he heard the shout. He had never seen the two girls before, but the blue haired one looked like a Hyuga. He could not help but smile at them.

"Yes it is. My name is Iruka and I'm a genin, though I'm going to be taking the chunin exams in a few months." Naruko was impressed, she had never met a real ninja before, well except for the Hokage and Jiraiya, but they did not count because they did not have headbands. That is how it worked in her five year old mind.

"That is so awesome! My name is Naruko Uzumaki and this is my friend, Hinata Hyuga. We're both clan heirs and we're going to be great ninjas someday!" Iruka had to laugh at the girl's enthusiasm. She seemed very bright and cheerful. He patted the seat next to him.

"It's great to meet both of you. Now pull up a seat, lunch is on me today." Naruko let out a little shout of happiness as she did her ramen dance. This got laughs from everyone present including the blue haired girl. The red head stopped and she and Hinata took their seats. The two friends chatted with Iruka about what it was like to be a ninja. Naruko was already on her sixth bowl of ramen when Iruka finally noticed the stack of bowls she had next to her. He paled a little realizing how much the meal was going to cost him. The two girls said their goodbyes after they finished and left a crying Iruka to tend to the bill.

-Somewhere in Konoha-

Naruko and Hinata were making light conversation as they made their way back to the Hyuga Compound. They had taken a longer route so they could enjoy the view of some of the parks and were just coming out of an alley when someone collided with Naruko and sent the red head to the ground. Hinata was surprised at what happened and looked over at the boy who had run into Naruko. He looked to be about their age with black hair and onyx eyes. He seemed as shocked as Hinata was. The boy approached Naruko with his hand reaching out.

"I'm sorry. I didn't…" The boy was cut off as Naruko got to her feet and punched him square on the jaw. The black haired boy fell on his ass.

"That's what you get for not watching where you were going." Naruko was mad. The kid had just made her look like a fool in front of Hinata. The boy stood up and marched towards the red head with an angry look on his face.

"I was just about to apologize. There was no need to hit me." Hinata was inclined to agree with the boy, but Naruko had a different line of thinking.

"Well you knocked me onto my ass so I knocked you onto your ass. Even though you apologized I still had to get even." The boy just looked at her as if she was stupid. What kind of person only cared about getting even?

"Are you an idiot?" Naruko's face turned grim and Hinata knew the boy had struck a nerve. Naruko hated being called in idiot.

"Who are you calling an idiom you duck ass?" Hinata tried not to laugh at the image that just entered her head, but she had to admit the boy's hair did look kind of like the rear end of a duck. The boy twitched for a second and his hands clenched.

"I called you an idiot!" The boy threw the first punch and they started to fight. Well it was more like a brawl then a fight. There was no technique or order to it, just simple fist meets face kind of fighting. Hinata was about to step in when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw what looked like an older version of the boy with two lines on either side of his mouth. He just shook his head. So Hinata stood and watched as the fight played out. They both seemed to be evenly matched as the fight dragged out to ten minutes. Both were breathing heavily and barely standing when Naruko faked a punch and turned it into a spinning round house kick that sent the boy into the wall. The fox girl smiled a little at her win and walked up to the boy. She held her hand out to him to help him up and got a right hook to the face for her effort. She hit the ground hard and then looked at the boy who had a smirk on his face.

"Now we're even." The two stared at each other for a moment before the both broke out laughing as the got up off the ground. They walked towards each other and shook hands. Naruko was grinning ear to ear.

"You're good. What's your name?" The black haired boy had a grin to match the girl's own.

"Sasuke Uchiha. And you weren't so bad yourself." They separated a little and Naruko put a hand on her hip.

"I'm Naruko Uzumaki. And thanks." The two started laughing again as they walked over to Hinata and the older boy. The Hyuga girl turned to the boy next to her with a confused look on her face.

"What just happened?" The boy smiled as he faced the girl.

"They became friends." Hinata turned back to the two that were walking towards them and had a small frown on her face. She was jealous of Naruko's new friend. The red head reached the other two and immediately noticed that something was wrong with Hinata. She turned to Sasuke and hit him lightly on the shoulder.

"Sasuke it was great to meet you, but I have to get going. Hinata and I have plans." The Uchiha boy nodded as Naruko grabbed Hinata's hand and ran off. They were a few blocks away when Naruko stopped and turned to the girl.

"What's wrong Princess?" Hinata looked down. She was not sure what to say. It took her a while to work up the courage to voice her concerns.

"You're my only friend Naru. I don't want to lose you." Naruko was a bit stunned. She had not realized that Hinata did not have any other friends. She thought the girl would have plenty since she did not move around a lot, but it turned out that the fox girl was wrong. She smiled a little and took Hinata into her arms.

"You'll never lose me Princess. Never." Naruko leaned back a bit and kissed the girl on the cheek. Hinata nodded as a small smile appeared on her face. Naruko was here and that was all that mattered.

-Age 6-

Seven months had passed since Naruko was last in Konoha and she had a horrible feeling that she had to go back. Something told her that Hinata needed her. Some voice in the back of her head, that was not her Dad, told her that she needed to get to her blue haired friend. The feeling had been getting worse for the last few days and she decided to talk to Jiraiya.

"Gramps. Can we go back to Konoha?" Jiraiya nodded his head not really paying attention to the girl. He was seated at a table in their hotel room reading over his latest novel.

"Of course kid. We'll be going back in a few months." Naruko shook her head and grit her teeth. That was not good enough.

"No. We need to go now! Hinata needs me. I can feel it." Jiraiya looked at the girl and saw that she was very tense. Something was obviously wrong with her.

"Naruko calm down. Hinata's fine. You're just getting scared for no reason. It's just a feeling. You have no idea that there is anything wrong." Naruko clenched her fists. She was getting mad. He was not listening to her and the feeling was getting worse by the second.

"You don't know what you're talking about. I can feel her. She's sad and scared and alone and she needs me!" Jiraiya almost feel out of his chair. Naruko's demonic chakra flared violently in her silent rage. Her eyes were closed tight as tears began to run down her cheek. She was furious. She needed to be with Hinata now and this man was in her way. She opened her eyes and they were red with slit pupils. Her chakra flared again and a pulse went through her spine. Jiraiya's eyes went wide when he saw the girl grow another tail.

"Naruko! Calm down! We'll go okay. We'll go right now." The man's words got through to the girl and she calmed down. Her eyes went back to normal and she unclenched her hands. She nodded and walked up to her Gramps and hugged him.

-Konoha-

It had taken Naruko and her Gramps two weeks to make it to Konoha and all the red head could do was wish she had been faster. She had gotten to the Hyuga Compound and ran into Hinata's uncle, Hizashi, and he told Naruko what happened. Hinata's mother had passed away three weeks ago. Himeko had given birth over a month ago and her body was weakened from the stress. She became ill and her body could not fight off the sickness. Naruko could not believe that her Aunt Himeko was gone. The fox girl was crying her eyes out and breaking down.

'**Kit! Get a hold of yourself! I know you're hurting, but think about Hinata. Her mother died Naruko. If you feel this bad imagine how bad Hinata fells. Her mother dies and she is suddenly all alone in the world. You need to go to her**!' The red head nodded as she wiped her tears away and looked up at Hizashi.

"Where's Hinata?" The Hyuga man was impressed with how quickly Naruko seemed to reign in her emotions and focus on her friend.

"She went to Himeko's grave." Naruko did not even say goodbye as she ran out of the compound and into the streets.

-Konoha Cemetery-

Hinata had visited her mother's grave every day since she died. Each day she arrived hoping that the grave would not be there and that it had all been a dream. She missed her mother. The girl was crying silently over her mother's grave as she felt arms wrap around her. She was not surprised. Somehow Hinata knew that she would come when she needed her. Hinata turned in the arms that held her and hugged Naruko tightly. The red head was devastated to see Hinata like this. The blue haired girl did not deserve to be this unhappy. Naruko rubbed her cheek against Hinata's to show her support. The Hyuga girl fought back her sobs so she could speak.

"I miss her." Naruko nodded, unable to find her voice. The two stood there for what felt like hours as they cried in each other's arms. At some point Hinata pulled away a little so she could look at the fox girl. "Naru, I want you to promise me something." Again the red head could only nod. "I know that you have to go at some point. And I know that you can never stay long, but I want you to promise me that you will always come back. I want you to promise me that you will always come home to me." Hinata's tears never stopped flowing and neither did Naruko's.

"I promise Princess. I promise." The two held each other tightly again and stood there till nightfall. Hizashi found the two girls still standing in each other's arms as he arrived at the cemetery. He took them back to the compound.

-Hinata's room-

Hinata woke up in her bed not really sure how she had gotten there. She remembered that Naruko had found her and that the fox girl promised her to always come back, but after that it was a blur. She looked at the red head that was wrapped around her and smiled. Naruko always made her smile. Hinata snuggled closer to the girl as Naruko began to stir. The red head woke up and looked in Hinata's eyes.

"Are you okay Hinata?" The Hyuga girl let out a sigh before she nodded her head. She was okay, not great, but okay. Naruko was here for her and that made everything better. Hinata knew she could make it through this with Naruko there with her.

"I'm getting better." Naruko smiled and kissed Hinata on the cheek.

"Good." The two stayed there for a while before something crept into Hinata's mind.

"How long can you stay?" Naruko hummed and rubbed Hinata's back.

"I already talked to Gramps on the way here. We're staying for the next two months." Hinata smiled. She had her best friend for the next two months and that made things a bit better. The girls got comfortable again and fell asleep in each other's arms.

-Age 7-

Naruko was back in Konoha again. The last time she was in the village was for two months helping Hinata coup with the loss of her mother. It had taken time, but the blue haired girl came to terms with her mother's death. Naruko was already seven when she came back to the village again. The first thing she did was go straight to find Hinata. She found the heir in her room like always and took her hand like so many times before. Hinata laughed as she was pulled through the halls and out into the streets.

"So where are we going?" Hinata knew the way to Ichiraku's almost as well as Naruko did, so she knew that that was not where they were headed.

"Dad told me about a place that my parents used to go on dates. It's a BBQ and it sounded really good when he told me about it." Hinata blushed when she heard the word date. It made her mind go to interesting places. Naruko dragged her friend to a place called Pork Tail BBQ. The two friends walked in and Hinata glanced around. She saw a few people that she knew and stepped closer to Naruko. The red head noticed the action and looked over to one of the booths and saw three kids their age sitting there.

"Do you know those people Hinata?" The Hyuga girl nodded before she answered.

"Each one is the heir to a different clan." Naruko grinned a little.

"So they're like us? We should go talk to them." Before Hinata could answer Naruko took her hand and dragged the girl to the table. There was a chubby boy with spiky brown hair, a pretty blond girl, and a tired looking boy with dark brown hair. Naruko was the first to speak. "Hey, what's up?"

All three sitting at the table turned to look at her. They had no idea who this red haired girl was, but they did recognize the timid girl behind her. The three looked back at each other as if they were silently deciding what to do. The two boys stared at the blond and she let out a sigh.

"We were just about to order lunch. Who are you?" Naruko smiled broadly.

"I'm Naruko Uzumaki, heir to the Uzumaki clan. And this is Hin…" The red head was cut off when the blond raised her hand. She had a small smile on her face.

"We know who Hinata is. How have you been Hinata?" The Hyuga blushed and came slightly farther out from behind Naruko.

"Hello Ino. I've b-been doing w-well t-thank you. Hello S-shikamaru, Choji." The blond smiled while the boys waved.

"Why don't you two join us? We haven't ordered yet." The two friends nodded and got into the booth with Ino. The blond was next to the window with Hinata next to her and Naruko on the end. The skinny boy was across from Hinata and the chubby one was across from Naruko. It did not take long before Naruko had to ask a question that had been bugging her.

"So which one of you is Shikamaru and which one is Choji?" The tired looking one let out a sigh and muttered something that sounded like troublesome.

"I'm Shikamaru and this big guy is Choji." The big guy bowed his head in greeting. Things quieted down as they all looked over the menus. The waitress walked up and asked for their orders. Choji and Naruko both turned to the woman.

"I'll have the all you can eat pork special!" The two were shocked that they had ordered the same thing and it seemed like lightning shot from their eyes at each other in a silent challenge. Shikamaru got a pork sandwich, Ino ordered a garden salad, and Hinata wanted spicy ribs. The blue haired girl's order got everyone staring at her except Naruko, who knew of the girl's tastes. Hinata blushed under the stares.

"W-what? I l-like spicy f-food." The group silently accepted the answer and soon struck up conversation. Naruko and Choji were talking about the different kinds of food they liked, discussing their thoughts on various restaurants, and swapping stories of legendary foods they had eaten. Ino and Hinata had gotten on the topic of beauty products because Ino wanted to know how Hinata kept her hair so nice. Shikamaru was sitting in his seat looking out the window enjoying that no one was talking to him. Their food soon arrived and the conversation slowed in favor of watching Naruko and Choji try to eat each other under the table. It had gotten really intense when they hit their thirty fourth plate and the two passed out with their heads falling into their food. Hinata helped Naruko up while Shikamaru and Ino helped Choji. The two groups parted promising to meet up again sometime soon. Naruko and Choji gurgled in agreement.

-Age 8-

It was Hinata's birthday and she was very excited. It was the first birthday that she got to celebrate with her best friend, Naruko. The red head had arrived that morning and promptly gathered up Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji to take with her to the party. Hinata had grown closer to the three since she started talking to them a year ago. She was quite glad that they could come. Her family was also at the party. Naruko properly greeted Hiashi and her uncle which made the blue haired girl happy. Hinata introduced Naruko to her cousin Neji. He used to be very kind, but he took on a much grimmer outlook on life after the kidnapping attempt on Hinata, somehow he felt responsible. After the introduction Hinata took the fox girl over to a crib and showed her the newest addition to the Hyuga clan. Naruko gushed over how cute little baby Hanabi was. In all her excitement she let her transformation slip. There were quite a few gasps in the room as everyone saw the three tails and fox ears that Naruko was sporting. The red head had no idea what was going on until Hinata pointed towards the tails. Naruko grinned sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head.

"I can explain." Neji walked up to the girl and glared at her.

"You're a half-demon." Naruko could only nod under the glare. "Get out." The red head was stunned for a moment and then she got angry.

"What did you say?" Neji stepped into her personal space in a challenging manner.

"I said get out. Hinata, or any Hyuga for that matter, shouldn't associate with a filthy half-demon." Naruko was ready to punch him when she felt Hinata's hand press against her back. The fox girl calmed instantly. Hizashi walked to his son and put a hand on his shoulder.

"She doesn't have to go anywhere Neji. Your uncle and I already know what she is. So does Hinata. We accepted Naruko for who she is a long time ago. It doesn't matter if she's a half-demon. What matters is that she is Hinata's friend and she looks out for her." Neji was a bit surprised at the news. He never would have thought that his uncle of all people would tolerate, let alone accept, his daughter being friends with a half-demon. He guessed if they could accept it than so could he, but one thing still bothered him.

"If you all knew, why did she hide it?" Naruko was about to speak but Hinata beat her to it.

"That's because you, Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji didn't know and she didn't want to lose any of her friends over something as stupid as the nature of her birth." The four children were stunned. It was the first time that they had heard Hinata ever defend someone before and she did not even stutter. Naruko beamed at the girl. She was proud of her friend.

"Yeah. That's it exactly. I'm sorry for not telling you guys. I just didn't want you all to hate me." The three old friends looked at each other and shrugged. Ino walked up to the fox girl first followed by Choji and Shikamaru. The blond wrapped Naruko in a hug.

"No worries. You're still the same guff ball to us." Naruko returned the hug and laughed a bit. She was glad to have such good friends. The party continued with no more really big surprises. They had cake and sang happy birthday while Hinata blew out the candles. She got gifts from all her friends except Naruko, who told her she would get it later. The party went on until the adults announced it was time for bed. Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru left after saying their goodbyes, as did Hizashi and Neji before they headed to the branch member portion of the compound. Hiashi took Hanabi to bed as Naruko and Hinata cleaned up a bit. They gathered up the presents before they left the party room.

-Hinata's Room-

They stacked the gifts in a corner and flopped out onto Hinata's bed. The two lay there for a moment enjoying the quiet. It had been a good day and only one thing was going to make it better. Naruko sat up and pulled a little package out of her pocket and handed it to Hinata. The red head had a smile on her face.

"Happy Birthday Princess." Hinata smiled back at the red head and took the present.

"Thank you Naruko." Hinata leaned in and kissed the fox girl on the cheek. Naruko actually blushed. It was the first time Hinata had ever kissed her on the cheek. The Hyuga girl unwrapped her present and was speechless at the sight. In the box was a beautiful blue crystal attached to a silver necklace with what looked like fangs on either side of it. Naruko reached over and took the necklace out of the box. She got behind her friend and placed the necklace around the Hyuga girl's neck.

"The crystal belonged to my mother. It's an old Uzumaki relic. The fangs are fox teeth that I got from Momma Aika. She said they were Dad's baby teeth. I took them and put them on this pretty necklace that I found in a market one day. I hope you like it." Hinata was crying a little. Naruko had just given her such a sentimental gift. The fox girl had given Hinata one of the only things she had left of her mother. The blue haired girl did not think she deserved it.

"Naruko, are you sure you want to give me this? It belonged to your mother." Naruko smiled before she leaned in and placed a quick peck on Hinata's nose.

"I'm sure Princess. There isn't anyone in the world I would rather have that crystal than you." Hinata cried some more. The words and the gesture that her friend had given her were extraordinarily special. Hinata hugged her friend tightly.

"I love it Naruko. I'll wear it always. Thank you." Naruko held her friend close, glad that she liked her gift. They stayed like that for a while before they started to yawn and decided it was time for bed. They got washed up and changed before they curled up next to each other on Hinata's bed. As they got comfortable Naruko wrapped her tails around Hinata. It had been the best birthday every in Hinata's opinion and soon the two girls were fast asleep.

-Konoha Gate-

The past three days had gone by quickly for the fox girl. She spent most of her time with Hinata like she usually did, but she also got a chance to visit Rika for a bit and hang out with Choji when Hinata had lessons. It had been a fun few days, but it was time to leave again. Naruko sighed and was about to turn to leave when she saw a familiar black haired boy walk across the street. She smiled when she saw her rival. They had fought a few more times since their first encounter and a loose friendship was formed around their desire to outdo each other. When Himeko died Naruko had fought the boy regularly to help work through her sadness. It had helped greatly.

"Hey Sasuke!" The boy stopped and turned to look at where the noise came from. When he saw the red head he just raised his hand in a sign of greeting before he walked away again. Naruko was puzzled by the action. Usually the boy greeted her with a smile and a friendly hello, but this time she had barely been acknowledged. "What's up with him?" Jiraiya turned and saw the boy walking away.

"He is an Uchiha, right?" Naruko nodded and Jiraiya let out a sigh. "Most of the Uchiha were wiped out a few weeks back by Itachi Uchiha. I'm guessing that that is his kid brother Sasuke. The only ones that survived were his mother, a few brats, and a jonin who was out on a mission. He is probably still grieving." Naruko was shocked. She had met Itachi a few times and he always seemed like a nice guy. He even pointed out where she and Sasuke could improve after they fought. It was hard to believe that he could kill almost all of his clan.

"Why didn't he say anything? He was there for me when I needed to vent, so why didn't he say anything?" Jiraiya shrugged.

"We all grieve in different ways kid. Maybe he just needs to sort out what's in his head before he can talk to anybody about it." The fox girl accepted the answer with a nod. She looked at the spot where her rival had just been before she turned and left the village. She hoped that he would be feeling better by the time she came back to the village.

-Age 9-

It was hard to believe that it had already been three years since Naruko had seen her last. It was hard to believe that three years ago she was alive and healthy. It was hard to believe that is still hurt so much to visit Himeko's gave. It was the anniversary of her death and the red head had accompanied Hinata to the grave to clean it and plant some fresh flowers. Hiashi was with them earlier, but Hanabi started to cry so he took her home. The girls did not mind, they enjoyed the quiet, it was almost like they could still feel Himeko with them. Naruko had a small sad smile on her face as she remembered days gone by. She turned to her friend and saw the same smile on the blue haired girl's face.

"Do you remember when we first met? I took you home and met your mom for the first time." Naruko paused for a moment before she put a smile back on her face and continued. "You went inside to get me that map and I followed in after you. I found you standing by a little pond in one of the gardens, just staring up at the moon. Do you remember that?" Hinata nodded and let out a chuckle. She reached over and took Naruko's hand in her own.

"Yes, I remember. I also remember what happened next. You took the map right out of my hands and threw it to the ground as you tackled me into the pond. I was so shocked that I just sat there in the water. Then you started splashing me and laughing. I got caught up in it and started splashing you back. We ended up having a big water fight. We were soaked and Mother never had any idea what happened. We never actually told her." Hinata got a little sad at the end of the tale. The fox girl took notice and squeezed her hand a little. They met eyes and smiled at each other.

"I think we just did." The red head turned to look at the grave and she reached out to put her hand on it. "I'm sorry we never told you Aunt Himeko. I just wanted to do something fun with my new friend before I had to leave." The two girls sat for a while as a gentle breeze blow past them. Hinata felt warmed by the wind and smiled at her friend.

"I think she forgives you." The red head nodded in agreement. They stayed like this a little longer before they decided it was time to head back. They both took a moment to send silent prayers to the Hyuga woman before they linked hands again and left the cemetery.

-Outside a Training Field-

Naruko and Hinata had taken a route that circled around the main part of the village. It was getting late and that meant the main streets would be much more crowded. They did not wish to be around so many people just yet. They had just past the old Uchiha section of the village. The whole place was abandoned after the massacre. No one wanted to live in the homes where innocent people were killed. Naruko got a little sad as she thought of her friend Sasuke. The last time she had seen him he was distant and did not even talk to her. The fox girl quickly came out of her thoughts as a kunai landed in the ground just in front of them. She looked up and a smile spread across her face. Sasuke was standing near the entrance of the Uchiha training ground. He was smirking. Naruko turned towards Hinata with a pleading look in her eyes. The Hyuga girl just shook her head in an amused way.

"Go ahead. I know how much you like to fight your rival." The fox girl beamed at Hinata before she placed a quick peck on her cheek and ran off to fight her rival. Hinata was actually glad that the two were fighting again. It meant that Sasuke was getting better after the loss of his clan. The blue haired girl smiled as she watched the two rivals fight. They were going full force like always. Punches were thrown, kicks were dodged, and a few insults flew through the air. It was no surprise that they attracted some attention.

"Heh, they're not bad." Hinata almost jumped out of her skin. She did not hear anyone approach. She turned and saw a boy about her age with black eyes and red triangles on his face. She could not tell what color his hair was because he had his hood up. Hinata heard a bark and looked down to see a little dog looking up at her while it wagged its tail. She smiled as she bent down to pet the dog. She looked back up at the boy with a bright smile that caused him to blush. He thought she was cute.

"Y-yeah they a-are. They've b-been r-rivals for a f-few years now." The boy got so red anyone who saw him would swear he was about to get a nosebleed. He found her stuttering very adorable.

"That so? Well I'm way stronger than those two. My name's Kiba Inuzuka and I'm going to be Hokage someday!" Kiba was proud of himself. He got his introduction out without any kind of interruption that was until he received a double flying kick to the head. Naruko and Sasuke heard the boy's boast so they decide to test him out. He did not meet their standards. The red head walked over to Hinata who had stood up after Kiba had been kicked.

"You okay Princess?" Naruko was worried that this guy might have said something weird to her friend. Hinata nodded before she looked over at Kiba.

"Is he going to be okay?" Before anyone could reply the dog started to bark at Naruko and Sasuke. Naruko got really mad.

"Who the hell are you calling a dirty fox you mangy mutt?" The dog quieted as it realized it had been understood. It soon started to bark again, but not as load this time. "Yeah I can understand you. You really should be better about not insulting people who are right in front of you." Kiba had gotten up by this point and looked between the dog and the red head.

"You can really understand him, can't you?" Hinata and Sasuke looked at Naruko. They were curious as well. Naruko nodded.

"Yeah I can understand him. It may not look it but I'm half fox demon. I can understand what most canines say." The two boys looked at Naruko with wide eyes. They had never met a half-demon before. Sasuke seemed to recover first.

"You use the transformation technique?" The red head nodded. "Next time we fight drop the technique. Even if the drain on your chakra is small it is still a disadvantage to you. I will not accept winning with a handicap." Naruko locked eyes with the boy and smiled. Leave it to Sasuke to only care how her being a half-demon would affect their fighting.

"You got it." Sasuke smirked. He was looking forward to their next bought. Kiba finally found his voice as he stepped towards the two rivals.

"Why the hell did you two kick me?!" All he got for his courage were two very dangerous looks. Naruko stepped towards the boy and poked him in the chest.

"We were testing you and you failed. If you were really…" Naruko cut off her sentence as she ducked under a right hook that Sasuke threw at her. She dropped to the ground and tried to sweep out the Uchiha's legs, but he jumped backwards. He smirked at Kiba.

"If you were really better than us you would have been able to dodge the kicks." Kiba was stunned silent. The two were very impressive and it made him want to increase his training. Naruko stood up and it seemed something had occurred to her as her eyes widened.

"I nearly forgot. I'm Naruko Uzumaki. The guy back there is Sasuke Uchiha and my lovely friend here is Hinata Hyuga. So what's your name?" Kiba got a little angry. She had heard the part where he said that he was better than them, but she ignored his name. He did not like to be ignored.

"I'm Kiba Inuzuka! And I'm going to be the next Hokage!" There was a bark next to him and he looked at his dog. "And this is Akamaru, my best friend!" He smirked a little thinking that the statement would get the red head to apologize. No way would anyone want to insult the next Hokage. Naruko's respect for the boy grew a bit. It was good to have dreams.

"Guess we're rivals too then, right Sasuke?" The Uchiha nodded as he smiled. Kiba seemed a bit confused.

"Why are we rivals?" Naruko got a little annoyed at how slow the boy was being.

"We're rivals because both Sasuke and I aiming to be Hokage. That and restore our clans." Naruko had never thought about being Hokage before Sasuke brought it up one day. She realized that it would be great to be Hokage. The entire village would be kind of like her family. Even Lord Sarutobi thought that way. Kiba got a grin on his face.

"I guess we are rivals then." The three rivals all had smirks on their faces as the sized each other up. Hinata was watching the whole thing with a small smile on her face. She was glad that they all became friends. The moment was ruined when a loud growl that came from Naruko stomach. Kiba, Hinata, and Sasuke all laughed a little as the fox girl scratched the back of her head.

"Okay, let's all go get some ramen!" Naruko turned and took hold of Hinata's hand as she began to walk towards Ichiraku's. Sasuke was used to the routine by now so he followed close behind. Kiba and Akamaru looked at each other and smiled before they ran after their new friends.

**A/N: And that is Chapter 6. I hope you all enjoyed it and that you don't hate me for killing off Himeko. The next chapter should be out in a week or two. Adios.**


	7. The Years Continue

**A/N: I just want to thank everyone for the great reviews that I have been getting. You guys rock. I'll try to keep updating every 2 weeks or so like I have been, but lately I haven't been able to just sit down and write. So don't be surprised if that 2 weeks turns into 3 weeks. On a side note there are 2 big changes from cannon in this chapter, a new pairing, and hints at a possible later pairing. I'm wondering what all of you think, so again please review. Now onto the show.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Text examples:

"**Hello." **Biju or jinchuriki using biju's powers speaking

'Hi.' Person thinking

'_Hi there.'_ Person speaking through mental link

'**Howdy.' **Biju speaking through mental link

Chapter 7: The Years Continue

-Age 10-

"Where the hell is everybody?!" Naruko was annoyed. She only got to stay in Konoha for a few days every year so she liked to make the most of it by seeing her friends. She had been in the village since early that morning and she could not seem to get ahold of anyone. Hinata and Neji were attending an important clan meeting. Shikamaru was helping his dad take care of their deer. Choji was taking cooking classes. Ino was running errands for her mom. The red head could not even find Kiba, Akamura, or Sasuke anywhere. She would have at least spent some time talking to Rika, but she was sick. So Naruko had been wandering the village in the hopes of running into Ino. She could have summoned Isamu and have him go find her, but she did not want to seem desperate. She was really getting annoyed and she had no one to vent it on because it was not anyone's fault. Kurama was a bit sad for his kit. He did not like to see her so frustrated.

'**Naruko, just stop for a moment and take a breath. Do as I taught you and expand your senses.'** The fox girl nodded as she stopped her wandering. She closed her eyes and started to focus on her other senses. She could feel the heat from the sun. Hear the sounds of the villagers bustling around. Smell the sweet scent of a bakery nearby. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Naruko smiled a little now that she had calmed down. The fox girl opened her eyes and looked over at the Hokage Monument. Her eyes shot wide open.

"What the hell is that?!" She could not believe her eyes. There was a fifth face on the Hokage Monument. The new face depicted a man with spiky hair and scars on the right side of his face. He only had one eye open and it was that of a Sharingan. Naruko had no idea who the man was.

"Are you an idiot? That's the Hokage Monument." Naruko turned to see where the voice had come from. She saw a girl around her age with long pink hair. Naruko was getting mad. She did not like being called an idiot.

"I know what it is. I meant why are there five faces up there? The last time I was here Lord Sarutobi was the Hokage." The pink haired girl looked at Naruko curiously. She thought everyone knew about the new Hokage, but if the red head was not from the village then it made sense that she did not know.

"Lord Sarutobi retired a few months ago. He and the council members named Obito Uchiha the Fifth Hokage." Naruko had never heard of the man before. The only Uchiha clan members she knew were Sasuke and his mother and she had only met the woman once. The fox girl turned and looked at the monument again. She felt one of her dreams getting farther away from her, but somehow that only seemed to strengthen her resolve. She was looking forward to meeting the new Hokage.

"Naru!" The fox girl smiled as she turned to face the voice that called her. Only one person called her Naru. Down the street a ways she saw Hinata running towards her. The red head smiled as her friend reached her and they hugged.

"Hey Princess, how did the meeting go?" Naruko and Hinata exchanged kisses on the cheek. It had become a part of their usual greeting for each other. Hinata had a puzzled look on her face when she met eyes with Naruko.

"What meeting?" Hinata was not aware of any meeting that was supposed to have happened. Naruko had a skeptical look on her face.

"Really? Because your uncle told me that you and Neji were at a clan meeting when I came by to visit before." Hinata's eyes went wide as she realized what her uncle had done for her.

"Ah, t-the meeting. It w-wasn't really a m-meeting. Neji and I j-just w-went to talk to my f-father." Naruko was a little surprised to hear her friend stutter.

"Are you okay Hinata? I haven't heard you stutter like that in a long time, at least not when you're talking to me." Hinata blushed a little realizing it was true. She usually felt very comfortable around Naruko so she never stuttered anymore. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

"I'm fine Naru, really. I'm just glad to see you again." Hinata leaned forward a bit to kiss the red head on the nose. Naruko lost all train of thought and went as red as her hair. Her nose was sensitive. Hinata giggled when she saw Naruko blush. They heard a cough come from nearby and they looked to see the pink haired girl. She looked a little annoyed.

"Look, I have no problem with those kinds of relationships, but there is a time and place for everything and in front of the Hokage Monument is not one of them." Naruko and Hinata blinked a few times before they realized what the girl was talking about. They both got very red. Naruko spoke up in their defense.

"It's not like that. I mean we're not like that. I mean…" Naruko trailed off as she caught the look of disappointment in Hinata's eyes. It broke Naruko's heart a little so she leaned in and kissed her friend on the cheek. Her voice was a whisper in Hinata's ear. "When we're a bit older, okay?" They were both blushing again and Hinata could only nod. Naruko took a moment to compose herself before she turned to the pink haired girl again. "Well thanks for the explanation, but we need to get going. It was nice to meet you." Naruko waved as she took Hinata's hand and walked back towards the center of the village. The two walked together for a few minutes before Hinata took the lead.

-Ichiraku Ramen-

Naruko was grinning ear to ear. Hinata was the best. The blue haired girl must have realized how down Naruko was before because she lead the red head straight to the one place that always made her feel better. That was what Naruko thought at least. As they got closer she noticed that the lights were not on and a sign out front said closed. Naruko got a bit upset when she realized that she would not be getting any ramen that night. Hinata saw the disappointment on Naruko's face and just smiled to herself. She squeezed the red head's hand and started walking around back. Naruko was curious as to what was going on. She heard rustling coming from behind the shop and she had a strange feeling telling her that something was up. When she heard a clang nearby her she instantly went on the defensive. She dropped her transformation and took her stance as she put herself between Hinata and the noise. She was blinded briefly as colorful lights went on and she heard some popping noises.

"SURPRISE!" And Naruko was indeed surprised. In front of her, in various kneeling and standing positions, were all of her friends. Standing in the back was Teuchi, Jiraiya, Hiashi, and Hizashi. In front of them were Sasuke, Choji, Shikamaru, and Kiba. Kneeling down in front was Ino and Ayame with Akamaru in between them. All their faces turned serious as they noticed the fighting stance and fox features Naruko was sporting. The red head dropped her stance and looked around.

"What is all this?" That one statement got the entire gathering laughing, including Hinata. The blue haired girl walked up to her friend and took Naruko's hand giving it a little squeeze.

"Naru, it's your birthday." A smile appeared on Naruko's face as realization dawned on her. It was her birthday! She did a little hop in excitement and almost tackled Hinata to the ground as she hugged the Hyuga girl.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! This is awesome!" Hinata did not get a chance to reply as Naruko stepped away from her and went to talk to everyone. After a few minutes the guests all had food in their hands and they were clustered in little groups talking to each other. Hinata had a warm smile on her face as looked over the party. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, especially Naruko. The red head was all over the place, talking to every person there. Hinata felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Ino standing behind her. The blond smiled at her.

"Hey Hinata. Great party." The blue haired girl smiled at her friend. It was a great party.

"Thanks Ino. I'm just sad that Rika couldn't make it. She's sick, though she did send over a present." The blond nodded. She had heard of Rika before, but never met the girl. She noticed that Hinata was looking off to the side so the blond turned her head to follow Hinata's gaze. She smiled at what she saw.

"I have to say Hinata, you always seem the most radiant when Naruko is around." Hinata blushed and looked at the ground to try and hide it. Ino did enjoy teasing her friend, but she knew that there was more to the two old friends then there seemed to be. They were always very clingy around each other, they held hands all the time, and kissed each other in public. Even if it was only on the cheek it was still a pretty big deal. No other pair of girls Ino knew was as close as Naruko and Hinata were. The blond had a bet going with Shikamaru and Choji on when they would finally end up dating. Choji had his money on when they were thirteen and Naruko became the head of her clan. Shikamaru claimed that they would never actually date, just go on as they already were, and maybe get married someday. Ino was betting that they had already gone on their first date and just did not tell anyone. Ino's thoughts were halted as she heard a bell ring. Jiraiya had just come out from the shop holding a platter.

"Time for cake!" There were several cheers from the party guests. The loudest were Naruko and Choji. Everyone gathered around the cake and sang as Naruko blew out her candles. The cake was cut and the fox girl got the biggest piece. After everyone finished eating it was time for presents. Naruko was stunned by the large pile of gifts that was set down in front of her. She looked at her Gramps for the go ahead and at his nod she tore into the first present. Most of the gifts were pretty standard fair. She received coupons to Ichiraku's, a book about restaurants, a kunai sharping kit, a shogi set, a voucher for a spa treatment at Konoha Hotel, some hair care products, a book about animal care, and a signed copy of Jiraiya's latest novel. That last one she threw at her Gramp's head. She could guess who gave her what gift and did not even need to look at the tags. The fox girl was puzzled though, it seemed like there was one gift missing. As if on cue Hinata got up and handed a card to the red head. Naruko opened the cared and read it to herself. All it said was 'You'll get your gift later.' She looked up at her best friend and smiled. She had done basically the same thing to Hinata on the blue haired girl's birthday. The fox girl smiled and nodded at Hinata. Things started to wind down after the presents were opened. People began to leave one by one as she said their goodbyes to Naruko. As always Naruko was invited to sleep over at the Hyuga Compound and she wholeheartedly accepted.

-Hinata's Room-

Naruko had just finished changing when Hinata came back into the room from her closet. The two locked eyes and smiled at each other. The Hyuga girl walked over to her bed and sat down as she patted the spot next to her. Naruko sat down next to her friend and rested her head on her shoulder as she wrapped her tails around the two of them. The two stayed like that for a moment before Hinata shifted and pulled a small box from her pocket. She handed it to Naruko. The fox girl smiled and kissed Hinata on the cheek.

"Thanks Princess." Naruko looked down at the little gift and took the lid off. She let out a small gasp. Inside the box was a beautiful silver chain link bracelet with three charms on it. One was a little red fox that seemed to be smiling, one was a princess tiara, and in between the two was a pair of hands that were holding a heart that had a crown on it. She did not recognize what the hands were so she looked at Hinata questioningly. The Hyuga girl smiled.

"The fox is you and the tiara is me. The hands represent friendship, the crown loyalty, and the heart love. It's everything that we hold for each other." Naruko was almost in tears. Now she knew how Hinata felt when she gave the girl the blue crystal necklace on her birthday. Naruko even realized that she could see the chain going down under Hinata's night shirt. She took the bracelet and put it on her left wrist. Once it was secured she tackled Hinata and hugged the girl tight while she rubbed their cheeks together.

"I love it Princess! Thank you so much." Hinata giggled as she hugged her friend back. The two girls stayed like this and fell asleep in each other's arms. Hiashi came in a few hours later wondering why the light was still on and found Naruko and his daughter holding each other as they slept. Hinata was on her back and Naruko was slightly on top of her. The red head's tails were wrapped around them to keep them warm. Hiashi sighed as he shook his head good naturedly and smiled a little. He saw how the girls acted around each other. He would be surprised if anyone did not see it. He knew that they cared for each other as more than just friends even if they did not yet realize it themselves. In the past he would have forbidden such a thing, but after his wife's death he had been trying to be a better father. He wanted his daughter to be happy and if that meant letting her date a half-demon he would allow it. Hiashi would deal with the back lash form the elders when the time came. For now he would let his daughter be happy. He smiled to himself as he shut off the light and left the room.

-Kurama's Forest-

Naruko stretched herself out on the soft grass and enjoyed the warmth from the spiritual sun. She was in the forest again. It had been quite a while since she had last entered the place where her soul was connected to her Dad. The red head got up and followed the familiar chakra signature to her Dad. Kurama had been resting by the side of a lake when he sensed Naruko approach.

"**Hello Kit."** Naruko plopped herself down in front of her Dad and scratched his nose in greeting.

"Hey Dad. So why did you call me in here." Naruko knew that she was till sleeping next to Hinata in the outside world, but currently her mind was in the forest. Kurama turned serious before he replied.

"**It's time Naruko."** The red head was surprised as she realized what Kurama meant. It seemed too soon still.

"Already?" Kurama nodded. "Can Hinata come?" Kurama chuckled. He should have known that his kit would want the Hyuga girl there with her.

"**Of course. It's about time she met your Dad and Momma."** Naruko smiled up at her Dad. Having Hinata there would make things easier for her. **"Now go back to sleep. We will wait until tomorrow night."** The red head nodded as she drifted back to sleep.

-Outside Konoha-

Hinata was curious as to what was going on. Naruko had woken up that morning with a fake smile on her face and when she asked the girl what was wrong she just kissed Hinata on the cheek and told her that she would find out that night. The day had passed slowly and Naruko seemed to be out of it the entire time. When evening came the fox girl took Hinata's hand and they picked up Jiraiya before leaving the village. The white haired man had a serious look on his face. Hinata was starting to get worried.

"Naruko? What's going on?" The red head stopped and let out a sigh as she turned towards Hinata.

"We're going to release Dad from the seal tonight." Hinata gasped. The Kyubi, Naruko's demonic father was going to be released? The Hyuga girl knew the Kurama was not evil like everyone made him out to be. That he was actually very much Naruko's father in every aspect except blood, but it still shocked her that he was going to be released. She did not even know such a thing could be done. But most of all she was worried about her friend.

"Are you going to be alright?" The red head just nodded, she did not trust her voice at the moment. Naruko was not exactly sure how this was supposed to work. The last time Kurama was removed from a seal it almost killed her mother.

'_Alright Dad. What first?'_ Naruko readied herself for whatever was to come.

'**Well kit. First you need to summon Aika and then we can get things started.'** Naruko nodded and preformed the hand signs to summon Aika. There was a large cloud of smoke as the jutsu was completed. Hinata went wide eyed. Standing before her was a giant brown fox, a little smaller than the Kyubi had been depicted to be, with seven tails. Hinata hide behind Naruko. The red head turned and took the other girl's hand and squeezed it tight.

"It's okay Hinata." Naruko faced back towards Aika. "Momma can you transform? You're scaring Hinata." The large fox nodded her head and disappeared in another puff of smoke. In her place was a lovely woman with brown hair done up in a bun with fox ears and tails. She had on a formal light blue kimono with a white flower pattern and a white sash around her waist. The woman walked over to the girls as Hinata peeked out from behind Naruko.

"I'm sorry for scaring you Hinata. I didn't mean to. I've actually been really looking forward to meeting you. You've done so much more for my little kit than you realize and I'm really grateful to you. My name is Aika and it's very nice to meet you." Aika crouched down so she was eye level with the Hyuga girl and put her hand out. Hinata hesitated, but after getting a look of reassurance from Naruko the shy girl took the woman's hand and they shook.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Lady Aika." Hinata smiled at the woman as they shook hands. Aika stood up after they finished. Naruko was pleased that her Momma and Hinata were getting along, but it was time to get things going.

"Okay so what's next?" Naruko looked between Jiraiya and Aika. Jiraiya opened his mouth first.

"Well next we remove the seal that is keeping Kurama inside you and then Aika will remove him with a summoning jutsu." Naruko was shocked and a scared from what she just heard.

"How is that any different than what happened to my mother? Are you trying to kill me?" Hinata quickly became fearful from the words. She moved closer to the red head and hugged her possessively from behind. Tears were running down her face.

"You can't die. You promised to always come back to me." Naruko's heart nearly shattered when she heard the soft whisper. She turned around in the crying girls arms and hugged her tightly. Jiraiya let out a sigh. He was afraid something like this could happen.

"Hey no water works okay? We made sure a long time ago that that wouldn't happen." Naruko looked over at her Gramps while still holding onto Hinata tightly.

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya let out another sigh as he prepared to answer the girl.

"The seal on you is different from those normally put on jinchuriki. Those seals keep the Biju restrained, unable to escape from the jinchuriki's body but also let the jinchuriki siphon off the Biju's power for their own use. The jinchuriki becomes dependent on the Biju's chakra to the point where it is fatal for them to be removed. It's kind of like if someone lost a lung. They could survive for a little while, but eventually their body would give out. Your seal is different though. I designed it to keep Kurama's chakra separate from yours so your body wouldn't become dependent on it. All I have to do is remove the seal that is keeping him inside you and Aika can summon him no problem. After that I can undo the seal that separates your chakras. There won't be a need for it after Kurama is removed." Naruko and Hinata had both calmed down after hearing the explanation.

'**What he said it true kit. Did you really think I would want to do this if it would mean hurting you in any way?'** Naruko regretted how quickly she had jumped the gun without even thinking things through. She knew no one present would hurt her, let alone her Dad.

'_I'm sorry Dad. I didn't think things through. I know you would never hurt me._' Kurama was glad they had cleared things up. He did not want his kit thinking that he would hurt her. Naruko looked at Hinata and kissed the girl on the cheek.

"Everything is going to be alright Hinata. All this will work out and I promise I'll still be here when it's all over, okay?" Hinata nodded and kissed Naruko on the cheek as well, earning a giggle from the red head. "Okay let's get this thing going!" Naruko separated herself from Hinata as Jiraiya walked over to her as he performed hand signs. Aika began preforming hand signs shortly after Jiraiya did. When Jiraiya reached his goddaughter he lifted up Naruko's shirt to expose her stomach and slammed his hand onto the seal. Naruko doubled over from the impact and felt the seal being released followed by a surge of her Dad's demonic chakra. Not a split-second later Aika finished her hand signs and slapped both hands to the ground. The red head instantly felt the chakra disappear as quickly as it had appeared. Naruko looked up to see a large cloud of smoke blowing away in the wind and Kurama standing on all fours looking down at her. The fox girl smiled at her Dad.

"Hi Dad!" Kurama smiled at his kit and then let out a yelp of pain as he felt something hit his left front paw. He looked down and saw Aika with an annoyed look on her face.

"Would you hurry up and get down here." Aika was annoyed with her old friend. He should have transformed the second he was released. Hinata had already been scared enough for one night. A cloud of smoke suddenly appeared around Kurama as he changed into his human form. The man appeared to be in his thirties and stood at about six feet tall, not including the long ears on either side of his head. His nine tails were sticking into the air. He had short red-orange hair just like his fur and wore a red kimono with a black sash. He walked over to Aika with a small smile on his face. The fox woman looked Kurama up and down. "That's better." The woman threw her arms around the tall man's neck and kissed him soundly. Everyone's eyes went wide at the action. Even Kurama was surprised at first before he wrapped his arms around the woman and returned the kiss with passion. Eventually the two parted and Aika looked at the over at the others. "What? I haven't been able to do that for almost fifty years. I missed him." Naruko's jaw dropped for a moment before she found her voice.

"Dad? Momma? You two are together?" Naruko had never even thought of the possibility that her surrogate parents might actually be a couple. Kurama smiled at his kit as he lightly nodded his head.

"Yes we are. We had been engaged before I agreed to let the First Hokage seal me in a tree. It was a show of good faith between Konoha and the Fox clan." Kurama looked a bit amused but Aika looked pissed as she turned towards her tall fiancé.

"And look how great that turned out to be. What was supposed to be an imprisonment of five years became fifty when the First died and forgot to tell anyone to let you go. I was stuck in the demon realm not being able to do anything. The only thing that kept me going was that damn ring you gave that you said would turn black if anything ever happened to you." Aika was crying by the end and Kurama took her into his arms. Naruko was touched by the scene and wondered if she could ever have something like that when she was older. Thoughts of Hinata ran through her head. The red head refocused as something occurred to her.

"Wait. Hold on a second. Why were you even sealed inside me if I wasn't getting any of your power? Couldn't you have just gone back to Momma after you were forced out of my mother?" Kurama had a sad smile on his face as he looked at his kit.

"I was sealed in you to keep you alive kit. You weren't born a half-demon under normal circumstances, meaning that neither of your parents were demons. You became a half-demon through the influence of my chakra. As such your body was at war with itself and saw your demonic traits as something harmful. You were literally killing yourself from the inside out. I had Jiraiya seal me inside you to help you stabilize and it has taken these last ten years to do so, which is why I finally had the seal removed. You don't need me anymore." Naruko was crying and Hinata held her hand tightly. The red head looked at Kurama with big eyes. He was the one who raised her. He taught her just about everything she knew. He saved her from her lonely nights when no one else would hear her cry. Naruko had owed her Dad far more than she had ever realized. She raised her free hand to her face to wipe away her tears.

"But Dad I still need you. You're my daddy and I love you. I'll always need you. Please don't go?" Hinata hugged her red head to try to comfort the girl and gently kissed her on the cheek. Kurama smiled at the scene and walked up to the two girls. He kneeled down on one leg and wrapped both of his arms around them in a big bear hug. He kissed the top of Naruko's head.

"Shh, I know little one. You'll always be my little kit and I'll always be your Dad. Just like Aika will always be Momma and Jiraiya will be Gramps. We're your family Naruko and we will always be there for you when you need us. And I'm sure that Hinata here will be there for you too." Naruko was still crying but she nodded her head as she clutched on to Hinata and her dad. Hinata kissed Naruko on the cheek again.

"Naruko, I made you promise me to always come back to me and you've kept that promise. Now I'm going to promise you that I'll always be here when you need me. I will never leave you alone. I promise." Aika walked up to the hugging group and joined in.

"I promise too kit. None of us are really going anywhere. We are all connected through our love for each other and that will always keep us tied together." Love was a powerful thing, Aika knew this. Love was what kept her going after forty years in the dark. Only to be summoned by a new born one day and find out that her love was sealed away until the child could live without him. She could not blame him. She would have done the same thing in his position. Jiraiya finally walked over and put a hand on Naruko's head and ruffled her hair. Naruko calmed down a bit and looked up at everyone. These people were her family. She loved each and every one of them even if she was not related to a single one of them by blood. She smiled through her tears.

"Thank you." Everyone around the girl had a smile on their face. They got up after a few minutes. Kurama and Aika said their goodbyes before they disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruko and Hinata were still holding hands as they followed Jiraiya back to the village. They were both smiling softly, happy that everything had worked out and that Kurama and Aika could be together again. The fact that they were engaged put some ideas in the two girls' heads that they would have to talk about someday, until then though they would just enjoy being there for each other. By the time they made it back to the village it was already dark so Jiraiya got them a room at the hotel and sent them off to bed. The two girls fell asleep the second their heads hit the pillows.

-Age 11-

It was Christmas Eve and Naruko had made it to the village just in time to celebrate the holidays. She and Jiraiya were invited to stay at the Hyuga Compound for a few days so they could all celebrate together. The fox girl was ecstatic. This was the first time that she would get to spend Christmas with Hinata and she would not waste a second of it. There were so many things to do that she did not know where to start, luckily the Hyuga girl had some ideas of her own.

"Let's go make snowmen." Hinata grabbed Naruko's hand and lead the red head outside to one of the gardens. The sight was breathtaking. There was snow all over the ground and icicles were hanging from tree branches. Naruko took in the view with wonder before she let out a cheer of excitement and began to help Hinata pile up snow for their snowmen. The two girls worked for quite some time before they had two complete snowmen. One vaguely looked like Hinata and the other looked kind of like Naruko. Their stick arms were connected to make it look like they were holding hands. The girls were proud of their work and smiled at each other as they hugged. They took a moment to enjoy each other's warmth and the peace that surrounded them. That peace was shattered as they were both pegged with snowballs. Naruko got angry quickly and turned to see Jiraiya looking smug with another snowball in his hand.

"What the hell Gramps?" Jiraiya just chuckled to himself as he tossed another snowball at the girls. Naruko was prepared this time and knocked the snowball out of the air. Her teeth were bared and she was growling. Then her features shifted to an evil smile that made Jiraiya gulp. He did not like that look.

"Hey kid, come on. I was just having a little fun messing with you two." The white haired man held his hands up and backed away as he made his plea, hoping to avoid any retribution. Naruko let go of Hinata and moved the girl slightly behind her.

"And I'm just going to have a little fun too." The words sounded harmless but Jiraiya could tell that they were anything but. Naruko jumped to the side and rolled on the snow. As she stood Jiraiya noticed that each of Naruko's four tails had a snowball cradled in it. The man visibly paled as the onslaught of snowballs began. Naruko's tails dived into the snow and made more ammo to then be launched at her Gramps. Jiraiya was dodging everything that was being thrown at him and that only served to increase Naruko's anger. It was not long before there was an all-out snow war going on between the two. Hinata was enjoying the show that the two put on. She could see that both had developed slight smiles and were enjoying the snow battle. The Hyuga girl smiled to herself as she decided to join in. It was soon a three way battle and all parties were getting pelted by snow as they threw their projectiles at each other and dodged incoming threats. The whole thing lasted about an hour before they all finally grew tired and headed inside. Hinata was the clear victor as she was not even hit once after the first sneak attack. The rest of the evening the girls were huddled up together in Hinata's room covered in blankets as they tried to shake off the cold that seemed to cling to them from the outdoors. Hinata fell asleep to the slight forest smell that Naruko gave off and the red head was carried to dreams by the scent of lilacs.

The next morning the girls awoke in each other's arms and had excited smiles on their faces. It was still dark out which meant that no one else would be awake yet. That fact meant little to the two friends as they got out of bed and hurried to the room where the tree had been set up. Naruko arrived a little before Hinata and threw the door open. Peering inside she saw the tree standing tall with its beautiful decorations and twinkling lights. The red head turned to her Hyuga girl and took her hand. Hinata turned to look at Naruko and the two smiled at each other. Naruko glanced up at the entryway and grinned at what she saw. The fox girl pointed up and Hinata looked to see green mistletoe hanging from the door frame. The girl blushed a bit as she realized what Naruko was implying and looked into the red head's eyes. She saw warmth and happiness in those blue eyes. Naruko had to smile at the blush that Hinata was sporting and she could not help herself when she leaned in and kissed Hinata on the lips. It was nothing more than a peck, like so many others that they placed on each other's cheeks, but this kiss was vastly different. Though it was quick it was lingering and held promises of more to come. It was the first real kiss that both girls had experienced and they were both very glad that they got to share it with one another. The two parted and looked away from each other hoping their blushes were not too visible. Naruko was the first to recover and squeezed Hinata's hand to get her attention.

"Merry Christmas Princess." The Hyuga girl beamed at her fox girl.

"Merry Christmas Naru." They walked into the room holding hands and took a seat on the floor by the tree as they waited for everyone else to wake up.

-Age 12-

The Konoha Summer Festival was in full swing as the two longtime friends made their way through the festival grounds. Naruko was walking a little in front of her best friend with food in each hand. She was enjoying the sweets and fried foods of the festival. Hinata walked close to her red head with her hands behind her back, one of Naruko's tails was lightly resting by her hands. The fox girl no longer saw the need to use the transformation technique in the village. She was old enough now to realize that some people were going to just not like her no matter if she was a half-demon of not, so she decided she would rather be true to herself then hide who she was. Hinata was proud of the girl. They had both come a long way since they first met. Naruko was a bit more level headed than she used to be and Hinata had gained some confidence. She could even speak to strangers now without stuttering. It was a warm night with a gentle breeze and neither girl could imagine a more perfect night. They made their way through festival playing games and looking at all the items for sale. Naruko ran off at one point and came back with a pair of masks. One was a red fox the other was a blue lion. She handed the lion mask to Hinata. The blue haired girl looked quizzically at the lion mask.

"Why a lion?" Naruko had her mask on one side of her head, covering her left ear. She smiled at her blue haired friend.

"Because of how brave and strong you are." Hinata laughed a little when she registered what Naruko had said. The red head thought that she was brave. It was an incredible thought that made Hinata smile brightly at her companion. She put the mask on top of her head so it covered her forehead. The two continued on down the alley enjoying the music that was playing in the distance as they passed by a pair of women that looked to be in their mid-twenties. One was slightly taller with black unruly hair and red eyes while the other had light brown eyes with bluish black hair. The shorter of the two turned and stared at the fox girl as she passed. The woman moved as fast as lightning.

"You're so adorable!" The bluish black haired woman had pounced on the unsuspecting red head and began to pet the girl's head. Hinata looked at the woman and the redness of her fox girl's cheeks and immediately took action. She activated her Byakugan.

"Let go of her!" The woman quickly backed off when she felt the rage roll off of the Hyuga girl. Naruko had never seen her friend angry before and was incredibly surprised. She had no idea why the girl would get that angry at the strange woman. The fox girl had not been hurt in anyway so that could not be it. She was not insulted or berated either. The only thing that had happened was that the woman had rubbed her head, something that Hinata had never done before. Then something clicked in Naruko's mind.

"Hinata? Are you jealous?" The blue haired girl turned red. She realized that she had been. Naruko saw the blush and took Hinata into her arms. The red head nuzzled her face against Hinata's.

"Aww! They're so cute! Kurenai, can I keep them?" The taller woman looked at her friend with annoyance before she slapped the back of the younger woman's head.

"They're people Anko, not pets!" Kurenai turned to the two girls. "I'm sorry about my friend she gets excited easily." The younger woman let out a noise of disappointment and seemed to sulk a bit. Kurenai let out a sigh and began to rub Anko's back. "I'll buy you some dango later." The younger woman visibly brightened and smiled at her friend before she almost tackled the older woman to the ground in a hug.

"Thanks Kurenai! You're the best!" The two girls watched the whole interaction between the two women and smiled warmly at them. Naruko hoped that she and Hinata could be like that when they were older, but without jumping random people. The fox girl smiled up at the two women.

"It's okay. It was more of a surprise than anything. By the way my name is Naruko and this is Hinata. You two are Kurenai and Anko right?" The two older women nodded. Kurenai walked up to the girls and crouched down a little.

"How about I treat you girls to some dango too? Think of it as a peace offering." The two girls looked at each other before the turned back to Kurenai and nodded.

-The Dango Dango Shop-

The shop was close to the festival grounds so it was getting a lot of business that night. It was crowded, but not cramped. The place had a nice atmosphere and many cheerful voices could be heard. Kurenai ordered three dango sticks for each of them and Anko ordered some sake. It was not long before the food arrived and all four were enjoying their food while engaged in light conversation. Naruko found that she liked the older women. They were both very nice and friendly, though it seemed Anko tended to drink too much. Despite that, the younger woman did not seem to get drunk. She just developed a slight red hue to her face and a smile that never seemed to leave her. The way the two women interacted made Naruko think that there was more to their relationship than there seemed to be.

"This is kind of forward, but how long have you two been together?" The table fell silent after the question was asked. Kurenai broke the silence with a pleasant laugh.

"We're not a couple if that's what you mean, though we do get that all the time. We've know each other since about your age and we're practically sisters, right Anko?" The black haired woman turned towards her longtime friend and failed to realize that for the briefest of moments Anko had a pained look on her face, a look that the younger girls did not fail to catch. Anko took a chug of sake and pulled the bottle away from her lips with a loud belch.

"Yeah, just like sisters." There was a smile on the young woman's face that did not quite reach her eyes. The rest of the night passed in laughter and smiles. The two groups said their goodbyes to each other as they parted ways. Naruko and Hinata were heading to the Hyuga Compound and they both silently hoped that the two older women would eventually realize what they had.

**A/N: When I first came up with Aika I did not plan for her to end up with Kurama. It just kind of happened. The more I wrote about her and developed her character in my head the more it just felt right that she should be with Kurama and before I knew it I reached this chapter and I found out that they had been engaged. I did not plan that either. I wrote that line and stopped and read it again. I seemed right so I left it. I really don't have control of this story anymore.**


	8. A Graduation

**A/N: Chapter 8. It took 7 chapters just to reach what is the equivalent of the first chapter of the manga. It has taken a while but it has been worth it. At least I think so and hopefully a few of you would agree with me. I have the next 6 chapters or so planned out already so hopefully updates will continue to be every 2 or 3 weeks. But enough about all of that, you just want to read the chapter. So I'll stop now. Enjoy and as always please review.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Text examples:

"**Hello." **Biju or jinchuriki using biju's powers speaking

'Hi.' Person thinking

'_Hi there.'_ Person speaking through mental link

'**Howdy.' **Biju speaking through mental link

Chapter 8: A Graduation

Hinata was sitting in her seat next to Kiba as she listened to Iruka give his final lecture. It was the end of the year and all the academy students in the room were waiting for the lecture to end so that they could start the final exam that would determine if they became ninja. Everyone was anxious to begin and let out sighs of relief as Iruka finished. The man was proud of his class. They had come a long way and he was looking forward to seeing them preform. There was just one last thing that he had to take care of before they could get started.

"Alright class before we get on with the exam there is one more announcement that I have to make." There were several groans of annoyance from various students in the room. Iruka just smiled at his class knowing that soon they would not be groaning. "We will be having a homeschooled student take the test with us. I hope you all welcome her." All eyes turned to look at the door when they heard it open. In walked a red headed teen that had a pair of fox ears on her head and four tails swaying behind her. Her spikey hair was tied back in a loose ponytail that reached just past her neck and her bangs came to a rest at her eyebrows. She had on a black tank top with a ninja mesh shirt underneath, a blood red jacket with black trim along the sleeves and zipper, a pair of khaki shorts with various pouches attached to a belt, and a pair of black ninja sandals on her feet. There was a silver chain on her wrist with three charms on it. Hinata recognized the girl instantly.

"Naruko?!" The red head looked up at her longtime friend and smiled.

"Hey Hinata!" The Hyuga heir brightened as she smiled at her fox girl. Iruka was happy that the two girls he met so long ago were still friends.

"Class, as some of you may know this is Naruko Uzumaki. She has spent the last several years traveling with her godfather and has just recently moved back to Konoha. The Hokage and I have been assured that she has received proper training so she will be joining use for the exam." Hinata was pleasantly surprised at what she heard. The idea that her friend was going to be living in the village felt like a dream. Hinata locked eyes with Naruko.

Hinata mouthed the words, "You're really staying?" The fox girl smiled brightly as she nodded her head. The blue haired teen could feel her eyes begin to water a little. She was so happy that Naruko was going to be living in the village. She no longer had to worry about her friend when she did not receive a letter for weeks on end. Naruko was finally home and Hinata could not be happier. Iruka noticed the brief exchange between the girls and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention back.

"Naruko, please have a seat next to Sasuke and we will begin shortly." The fox girl nodded and made her way over to her rival. When she reached him the two locked eyes and lashed out at each other without a moment's hesitation. They had both thrown a punch aimed at each other's head only for it to be caught by their free hands. The two seemed to try and push past the other's defense until the finally released the fists they were holding. They smiled at each other as they clasped hands in a sign of respect. After the little exchange was over Naruko sat down in her seat with her hands behind her head and her feet up on the desk. The red head did not notice the angry glares she was getting from a certain pink haired girl.

"What the hell was that?!" Naruko covered her ears as she heard the loud voice erupt from behind her. Ino rolled her eyes and let out a sigh.

"They've been like that for years Sakura. That's how they say hello." The two rivals turned towards the loud girl and nodded in agreement. Sakura quieted as she realized that she was the only one to have had a problem with the brief show of violence. Iruka was a little annoyed that he had lost the attention of his class again.

"Alright everyone settle down. We're going to start now. We'll begin with ninjutsu, then taijutsu, and finally ninja tool usage. For ninjutsu you will have to perform the transformation technique, the substitution technique, and the clone jutsu. For taijutsu you will have to fight in three five minute sparing sessions, each with a different opponent. We will then be going outside for the ninja toll tests." When the sensei finished the introduction of the tests he pulled out a clip board and started to call out names. Naruko only paid attention when she heard names that she knew. All her friends did pretty well. Hinata had gotten almost a perfect score, but her transformation of Iruka was off slightly. The girl had somehow managed to get his scar up on the forehead. It was not long before it was the fox girl's turn. Naruko jumped high out of her seat and landed in front of the class. She was too excited to just walk. The red head started with transformation and turned into Iruka. The man commented that it was like looking in the mirror. Next up was the substitution technique. After a rapid succession of hand signs there was a puff of smoke and everyone was surprised to see Kiba standing where Naruko had just been. The red head was seated next to Hinata and while all eyes were on the dog boy she planted a quick peck on the Hyuga girl's lips that left Hinata red. The only one who noticed was Akamaru, who had been sitting on the desk. He had a little doggy grin on his face as he wagged his tail. Naruko was pleased that she got to kiss Hinata again after so long. She walked back to the front of the class with a smile on her face and a skip in her step. She turned to Iruka to as a question.

"Is it okay if I use a different clone jutsu than the normal one?" The sensei took a moment to think. The test only required that a clone be made. It did not specify what kind. The man nodded his head in agreement and Naruko went about preforming her ninjutsu. There was an eruption of smoke from various locations throughout the room. When the smoke cleared there were ten Narukos in the room. Iruka was impressed with the number, but he was curious about one thing.

"Naruko what kind of clones are they." Through an unseen act the red head dismissed her clones as she turned and smiled at the man.

"Shadow clones." Iruka's eyes went wide. Shadow clones were a very rare form of clone and were considered a high level ninjutsu that took tremendous amounts of chakra to create even one clone, but somehow this thirteen year old girl had managed to create ten. Just how strong was she? Iruka shook his head and continued to administer the tests.

-Academy Gym-

The students were lead into the gym for the next portion of their exam. Along the way two other Academy sensei joined the group, each one had a clipboard. They positioned themselves and began to call out names. Those who were called were paired up to spar for one of the five minute sessions. Naruko was one of the first called and was paired up against a boy she had never met before. He seemed over confident and that lead to an easy match for the red head. The boy did not even manage to land a single hit on the girl as she danced circles around him. At the two minute mark Naruko had already landed fifteen solid hits on the boy so the sensei called the match. The boy did not seem to mind. He had gotten enough bruises for one day. Hinata and the rest of Naruko's friends made short work of their matches. The only time any of them had any difficulty was when they faced each other. Naruko's second opponent gave up after witnessing her previous match. The red head had some free time so she watched her Princess make short work of a purple haired girl. Hinata used the Gentle Fist like a true master and incapacitated her opponent with a few quick strikes. The girl took a deep breath after her match and let it out in surprise when she felt arms wrap around her. She did not even have to guess who it was. Hinata turned around in Naruko's arms and hugged her friend back.

"Hello Naru." The red head nuzzled her face against Hinata's.

"Hey Princess. You looked great out there." The Hyuga heir reddened a little and glanced around the room briefly. Everyone was involved in watching the matches so she placed a quick kiss on Naruko's check earning a small giggle from the red head. The two parted as they heard the fox girl's name being called. Naruko turned and grinned when she saw who was standing by Iruka. Sasuke smirked as their eyes met. It seemed appropriate that their final match would be against each other. They took their stances as they sized each other up. It had been sometime since they had last fought each other and they were both excited to be facing each other again. Iruka called the start of the match and the two teens went all out. Naruko came low and slashed at Sasuke with her hands. It was the same high speed style that Kurama had taught her so many years ago called the Swift Fox. Her fingers were bent to look like claws and her tails were swaying back and forth to distract her opponent. Sasuke was used to the style and avoided the first hit with ease by jumping over the girl. He was surprised however when he felt something soft wrap around his ankle and pull him to the ground. One of Naruko's tails had caught the boy in the air. The Uchiha was did not expect the move. The fox girl had never used her tails as anything more than a distraction before. It seemed that she still had surprises after all. Luckily he did too. Sasuke flipped to his feet and managed to counter Naruko's next strike with an arm lock that put the red head at his mercy. The teen boy shifted his grip putting a great deal of pressure on Naruko's elbow that made the girl cry out in pain. Iruka would have called the match right then but the red head used her tails to pick Sasuke up off the ground and throw him away. He was still midair when she got down on all fours and charged towards where he was supposed to land. Sasuke righted himself and barely saw the kick coming for him when he landed. He curled into a ball to dodge and rolled when he hit the ground. The two stood up and faced each other before they went back to trying to beat the crap out of each other. During the match everyone just watched. The sensei got distracted and did not call for the next matches. All three of the sensei were fairly impressed with the two teens and were sure they would receive top marks. Iruka looked away from the match as he heard a small beep and realized that five minutes was already up. He called the match and the two combatants stopped instantly, neither seemed out of breath nor worse for wear. They probably would have kept going if they were allowed to. Naruko and Sasuke approached each other and clasped hands. They smiled as they shook, it was a good match. The rest of the matches picked up, but none of them were as impressive as the one that just finished.

-Academy Training Field-

Iruka lead his class outside for the final portion of the test. There were several dummies arranged around the field at different distances. There were a few tables set up, with shuriken and kunai on them, in various locations around the field. Iruka gave the area a once over and seemed satisfied with the set up.

"Everyone go and pick a table to stand behind, three people to a table. You will use five shuriken and five kunai to quickly and accurately hit the ten targets in front of you. When you are finished go to the end of the line so that the next person can go." There were sounds of acknowledgement from the students and Naruko quickly grabbed Hinata's hand and lead the girl to one of the tables. Sasuke would have followed the two girls, but he was grabbed by Sakura and Ino and taken to a different table. Kiba followed Naruko and Hinata to their table.

"Hey guys, mind if I go first?" The dog boy was looking to impress the two girls so he wanted to be the first to go. Naruko and Hinata stepped aside and let Kiba go first. With Iruka's go ahead Kiba grabbed all the shuriken in one hand and the kunai in the other. He crossed his arms and threw them full force without even looking. He heard several thunks and smiled thinking he had gotten them all. His pride shattered when he heard Naruko break out in laughter. Hinata spoke up on Kiba's behalf.

"Come on Naruko that was rather impressive. Kiba managed to hit half the targets with his eyes closed." The fox girl reigned in her laughed with a few deep breaths.

"I know, but he might have hit all of them if he actually aimed." The Hyuga heir could not refute that fact. Naruko walked up to the table and picked up a kunai in each hand. The rest she held with her tails. She threw the first and then quickly replaced it with one she was holding with her tail. She threw with both hands and quickly hit all the targets. The closest four were all head shots and the farther six were right over where the heart would have been if they were real people. The red head turned and looked at Kiba with a smug expression on her face. Kiba grew mad quickly and was about to yell at the fox girl when Hinata walked between them and up to the table. The blue haired teen took a breath and picked up her first shuriken. In the span of ten seconds Hinata threw all of the projectiles and hit each target right between the eyes. The girl turned around to see surprised looks on her friend's faces. She got a little self-conscious and turned her gaze to the ground.

"What?" Naruko saw the blush appear on Hinata's cheeks and a smile quickly formed on the red head's face. She grabbed her friend around the waist and lifted her up into the air as she spun the girl.

"Hinata you're the best! That was awesome!" The red head set her Princess down, but still held the girl in her arms. The blue haired girl smiled at her friend and brought her arms up to hug her back. The two reluctantly let go of each other as they heard Iruka call them back inside.

-Iruka's Classroom-

The sensei was fairly impressed with his class. The majority had passed and he was relieved that most of his favorite students were amongst those who would graduate. He smiled with pride at his students. He always enjoyed watching them grow.

"Alright everyone, it's going to take a few minutes to go over everything and compile the scores. Take this time to relax. You'll be called out of the room one by one to be given your grades." Iruka left the room and everyone else started talking amongst themselves. Choji talked about how he did on the test but then ended up talking about which brand of chips was his favorite. Shikamaru was seated next to him, but had not paid much attention to his friend. Choji realized this, but he did not care, that was just how they were. Sakura and Ino had gotten into a fight about who had done better and gotten more attention from Sasuke. Ino seemed to care more about out doing Sakura than getting attention from Sasuke. Hinata had gotten up from her seat and gone to talk to Naruko and Sasuke. Kiba looked down. He just could not seem to catch a break when it came to women. Akamaru whined a little when he saw his master upset and rubbed his head against the boy's leg. Kiba reached down and pet his partner but did not feel any better. He turned around when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Things will work out because you are a good guy who will go far. Just don't lose hope." Kiba let out a sigh and nodded his head.

"Thanks Shino." The glasses wearing boy nodded and sat down next to Kiba. Everyone quieted down when the doors opened and the first name was called. Every few minutes the doors would open again and the next name would be called. It did not take long for them to realize that only those who passed came back into the room. Shikamaru was the first to return with a headband. After him Sasuke, Shino, and Ino were called and returned with headbands. Their friends congratulated them and waited for their names to be called. Choji, Hinata, Kiba, and Sakura all left and returned fairly quickly in turn. Naruko was ecstatic that her Princess had passed and tackled the girl in a hug. The action earned several laughs from those who were gathered. Naruko heard her name called and looked down at the girl under her. The fox girl put her lips close to Hinata's ear.

"Wish me luck Princess." Naruko placed a kiss on the girl's ear that turned the blue haired teen's face bright red.

"Good luck Naru." The red head smiled as she got off of her friend and went out the door. Hinata sat down in her usual seat next to Kiba. The boy took a deep breath before he turned to face the girl.

"Hey Hinata?" The girl turned and smiled a little at her friend.

"Yes?" Kiba had to swallow when he saw the cute little smile on her face. He spent a few moments just looking at the girl's face. Nothing else seemed to exist in the world, which is why he did not hear the door open.

"Do you want to get dinner tonight to celebrate?" Before she could answer Hinata felt arms wrap around her waist and noticed a mess of red hair appear over her shoulder.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Naruko had a large smile on her face that was soon mirrored by Hinata when the Hyuga heir realized that Naruko had passed. She turned around and hugged her fox girl. Kiba just looked confused.

"What?" The boy was surprised that Naruko would be so enthusiastic about Hinata getting dinner with him. The red head looked away from Hinata to face Kiba.

"We should all go out and eat to celebrate!" The friends all nodded their heads in agreement. It was a good idea. Their attention turned towards the front of the room when they heard someone clear their throat.

"Alright everyone I am proud to announce that you nine are all now officially ninja of the rank of genin. Congratulations and report back here in two days to receive your team assignments. As for tomorrow, you all get the day off!" The new graduates let out shouts of excitement at the day off as they made their way out of the classroom. The group took to congratulating each other again and discussing how they did on the exam. After a while a loud growl was head and the new genin took defensive stances. Choji just laughed.

"Guys I'm just hungry. Calm down." The group let out a laugh as they realized how foolish they must have seemed. Naruko walked up to the big boned teen and clapped a hand on his back.

"Alright then where should we go eat?" Choji already had an idea.

-Pork Tail BBQ-

The graduates had made their way to the old standby that was the BBQ joint. It had a long history with the group and was definitely the best to celebrate their graduation. Even Naruko agreed and everyone just looked at her. They did not think that the girl would willingly pass up on ramen. The red head just laughed.

"Guys, Ichiraku's wouldn't be able to fit all of us." The group laughed and agreed with the girl. They were lucky that the restaurant was fairly empty so they could all be seated together. The host placed them at a large table in the back that could fit all of them and the friends all found their seats. Hinata was between Naruko and Kiba. Akamaru was seated on Kiba's lap. Sasuke was across from Hinata with Sakura and Ino on either side of him. Shino and Shikamaru each sat at the ends of the table and Choji was between Ino and Shikamaru. They were quite the noisy group and the host was glad that he had seated them in the back. Orders were made and soon everyone was engaged in conversation. Ino tuned out Choji who was going on about how great the restaurant was and turned her attention to her wandering friend.

"So Naruko, are you really going to be living in the village from now on?" Hinata completely ignored Kiba who was trying to get her attention so she could listen to the conversation. The red head smiled as she nodded her head.

"That's right. I'm thirteen now which means I'm the head of the Uzumaki clan. Gramps finally accepted that I was old enough to live on my own." The blond nodded and something occurred to her.

"So where are you going to live?" Naruko laughed nervously as she scratched the back of her head. Hinata knew that look. It meant that her fox girl had not thought about where she was going to be staying, just that she was going to get to stay in Konoha.

"She's staying with me." Naruko and Ino turned to look at Hinata. Ino smiled a little at how quickly the girl came to the red head's rescue. Naruko looked at her Princess with hope filled eyes.

"Are you sure Hinata?" The Hyuga heir nodded. It was not even an issue.

"Father told me a while ago that I had the freedom to invite you over whenever I wanted. You've stayed with us before so there shouldn't be any problems." The fox girl beamed at her friend as she wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and kissed her on the cheek. No one at the table gave the action any mind. They all knew how affectionate Naruko and Hinata acted towards each other, although Kiba did have a look of disappointment on his face. Naruko beamed at her friend and brought her lips to the girl's ear to speak.

"You're the best Princess." Hinata's face reddened as she smiled. She was glad that she could help her friend after Naruko had done for her. Conversation picked up again between Naruko and Ino as the red head told stories of where she had visited on her travels. The food arrived and everyone began to eat. Kiba worked up is courage to try and talk to the Hyuga heir again.

"Hinata?" The girl looked over at him with her big white eyes that seemed to trap him in a field of snow. He lost all train of thought for a moment before Akamaru barked and brought him out of his stupor. "Um, would you want to spend some time together with me tomorrow?" At the word tomorrow Naruko's ear twitched and her eyes shot open as she remembered something. Her hand reached out and took hold of Hinata's to get the girl's attention.

"Hinata! We have a wedding to go to tomorrow!" The entire table fell silent at the fox girl's declaration. Many of them had only honed in on the word wedding and were quite interested in what was going on. Shikamaru grinned as he turned towards his two oldest friends.

"Pay up." Everyone turned towards the lazy teen before looking at Ino and Choji. Ino stood up out of her chair and pointed and Hinata and Naruko.

"She said they were going to a wedding! It's not theirs." The grin on Shikamaru's face disappeared and muttered something along the lines of troublesome under his breath. Naruko just stared at the blond in confusion.

"What was that all about?" Ino got a sheepish look on her face as she realized that they had almost revealed the bet the three of them had going. Her mind quickly raced to come up with something. She had nothing.

"Well um. We kind of made a bet on when you two would finally end up dating." Ino closed her eyes expecting to be on the receiving end of a fist delivered by a very angry fox girl. She waited a moment and nothing happened so she opened her eyes. Hinata was blushing and looking at the food in front of her and Naruko had her jaw clamped shut trying to hold back a laugh. The red head failed and loudly laughed for all to hear. Naruko calmed down after a few minutes as she took some deep breaths.

"That's hilarious. Was it really that obvious that we liked each?" There were several nods from those who were seated at the table. Naruko just shook her head good naturedly as she placed her arm over Hinata's shoulders and drew the girl close. "Well we do plan on dating, but not yet. We agreed a few years back that we would wait till be were older, though I don't think it'll be too much longer now." The red head leaned over and placed a kiss on Hinata's cheek as the Hyuga girl nodded her head in agreement. Just about everyone at the table started to laugh in relief. They were glad that the two girls had finally opened up about the subject. Everyone soon went back to eating and conversing with one another. The only changes were that Naruko and Hinata sat closer to each other and Kiba got a little quieter. It was not long before the food was finished and the friends parted ways for the night.

-Hinata's Room-

Naruko and Hinata made it to the Hyuga Compound before it got too late and decided to head right to bed. They went through their usual routine, Naruko got to wash up first and then Hinata. The fox girl changed while the blue haired teen bathed and then Hinata would change in her large closet. It had become so common for the girls that they did not even have to talk about it anymore. Naruko was seated on the large bed when Hinata came out of the closet. The girls smiled at each other as Hinata made her way to the bed and sat down next to her fox girl. They cuddled up close to each other and enjoyed a moment of quiet. Hinata turned her head and placed a light kiss on Naruko's lips causing the red head's face to match her hair. She was used to being the one who kissed, not the one who got kissed. The Hyuga heir pulled away a little and rested her head on Naruko's shoulder. The fox girl wrapped her tails around them to keep warm and they both hummed in contentment. Hinata looked up at her longtime friend and smiled.

"So whose wedding are we going to tomorrow?" Naruko laughed a little as she realized that the wedding subject was completely forgotten at dinner after the bet was revealed. The red head looked down and smiled at her Princess.

"Dad and Momma are finally getting married." Hinata pulled away from the girl in surprise as her jaw dropped.

"Really?" The red head nodded and a bright smile appeared on Hinata's face. The blue haired girl was happy that Naruko's surrogate parents were finally getting married after so long. "I'm so happy for them." Naruko smiled brightly at the girl.

"I am too Princess. It's about time if you ask me, but then again it did take Dad quite a while to gain control of the Fox clan again after being gone so long. I'm actually a bit surprised that it didn't take him longer." Hinata wondered what kind of trouble Kurama had to deal with in order to get his position back, but let the thought drop as she focused back at the matter at hand.

"I guess you're right. I'm just glad I got invited." Naruko laughed a little and drew her Princess closer to her.

"Of course you got invited. They've been ready for a few days now, but they had to wait because I couldn't get here faster." Hinata was stunned at the news.

"They put off their wedding just so I could go?" The Hyuga heir did not think she was important enough for them to do such a thing. Naruko chuckled a little before she pecked the girl on the cheek.

"More like they put the wedding off just so we could go. They said and I quote, 'We can't get married without our two kits there for the ceremony.' I hate to tell you this Hinata, but they already consider you part of the family." Hinata could tell that her fox girl was teasing her, but that did not make it any less true. Naruko's parents considered her family. The thought was so extraordinary to the girl that she tackled Naruko and began to kiss the girl repeatedly. The fox girl smiled as she felt the kisses being placed on her lips and cheeks. It felt great to be kissed by her Princess. They two calmed down after a few minutes but Hinata stayed on top of her fox girl as she snuggled closer. Naruko smiled and wrapped her tails around the both of them to keep warm as Hinata fell asleep in each her arms. Or at least she thought the Hyuga girl fell asleep. After a few minutes Hinata lifted herself off of Naruko with a panicked expression on her face.

"What am I going to wear?" The blue haired teen tore out of her bed and threw on the lights as she made her way to the closet. Naruko had to laugh at the girl's reaction until she realized that she had nothing planned to wear either and ran after the girl into the closet. The rest of the night was spent trying on different outfits and hoping that they would be able to get enough sleep before the ceremony.

**A/N: Well there you have it. Look forward to the wedding in the next chapter and the introduction of a new character.**


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